In “The Gospel of Thomas: Jesus Said What?” in the July/August 2015 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, New Testament scholar Simon Gathercole examines what the 114 sayings of Jesus from the Gospel of Thomasreveal about the early Christian world in which they were written. Below, read the 114 sayings of Jesus as translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson and republished from The Gnostic Society Library.—Ed.
The Gospel of Thomas
Translated by Stephen J. Patterson and James M. Robinson*
These are the hidden words that the living Jesus spoke. And Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down.
(1) And he said: “Whoever finds the meaning of these words will not taste death.”
(2) Jesus says:
(1) “The one who seeks should not cease seeking until he finds.
(2) And when he finds, he will be dismayed.
(3) And when he is dismayed, he will be astonished.
(4) And he will be king over the All.”
(3) Jesus says:
(1) “If those who lead you say to you: ‘Look, the kingdom is in the sky!’ then the birds of the sky will precede you.
(2) If they say to you: ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fishes will precede you.
(3) Rather, the kingdom is inside of you and outside of you.”
(4) “When you come to know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will realize that you are the children of the living Father.
(5) But if you do not come to know yourselves, then you exist in poverty, and you are poverty.”
(4) Jesus says:
(1) “The person old in his days will not hesitate to ask a child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live.
(2) For many who are first will become last, (3) and they will become a single one.”
(5) Jesus says:
(1) “Come to know what is in front of you, and that which is hidden from you will become clear to you.
(2) For there is nothing hidden that will not become manifest.”
(6)
(1) His disciples questioned him, (and) they said to him: “Do you want us to fast? And how should we pray and give alms? And what diet should we observe?”
(2) Jesus says: “Do not lie. (3) And do not do what you hate.
(4) For everything is disclosed in view of <the truth>.
(5) For there is nothing hidden that will not become revealed.
(6) And there is nothing covered that will remain undisclosed.”
(7) Jesus says:
(1) “Blessed is the lion that a person will eat and the lion will become human.
(2) And anathema is the person whom a lion will eat and the lion will become human.”
(8)
(1) And he says: “The human being is like a sensible fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea filled with little fish.
(2) Among them the sensible fisherman found a large, fine fish.
(3) He threw all the little fish back into the sea, (and) he chose the large fish effortlessly.
(4) Whoever has ears to hear should hear.”
(9) Jesus says:
(1) “Look, a sower went out. He filled his hands (with seeds), (and) he scattered (them).
(2) Some fell on the path, and the birds came and pecked them up.
(3) Others fell on the rock, and did not take root in the soil, and they did not put forth ears.
(4) And others fell among the thorns, they choked the seeds, and worms ate them.
(5) And others fell on good soil, and it produced good fruit. It yielded sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure.”
(10) Jesus says:
“I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it until it blazes.”
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(11) Jesus says:
(1) “This heaven will pass away, and the (heaven) above it will pass away.
(2) And the dead are not alive, and the living will not die.
(3) In the days when you consumed what was dead, you made it alive. When you are in the light, what will you do?
(4) On the day when you were one, you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?”
(12)
(1) The disciples said to Jesus: “We know that you will depart from us. Who (then) will rule over us?”
(2) Jesus said to them: “No matter where you came from, you should go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.”
(13)
(1) Jesus said to his disciples: “Compare me, and tell me whom I am like.”
(2) Simon Peter said to him: “You are like a just messenger.”
(3) Matthew said to him: “You are like an (especially) wise philosopher.”
(4) Thomas said to him: “Teacher, my mouth cannot bear at all to say whom you are like.”
(5) Jesus said: “I am not your teacher. For you have drunk, you have become intoxicated at the bubbling spring that I have measured out.”
(6) And he took him, (and) withdrew, (and) he said three words to him.
(7) But when Thomas came back to his companions, they asked him: “What did Jesus say to you?”
(8) Thomas said to them: “If I tell you one of the words he said to me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me, and fire will come out of the stones (and) burn you up.”
(14) Jesus said to them:
(1)”If you fast, you will bring forth sin for yourselves.
(2) And if you pray, you will be condemned.
(3) And if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits.
(4) And if you go into any land and wander from place to place, (and) if they take you in,
(then) eat what they will set before you. Heal the sick among them!
(5) For what goes into your mouth will not defile you. Rather, what comes out of your mouth will defile you.”
(15) Jesus says:
“When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your face (and) worship him. That one is your Father.”
(16) Jesus says:
(1) “Perhaps people think that I have come to cast peace upon the earth.
(2) But they do not know that I have come to cast dissension upon the earth: fire, sword, war.
(3) For there will be five in one house: there will be three against two and two against three, father against son and son against father.
(4) And they will stand as solitary ones.”
“I will give you what no eye has seen, and what no ear has heard, and what no hand has touched, and what has not occurred to the human mind.”
(18)
(1) The disciples said to Jesus: “Tell us how our end will be.”
(2) Jesus said: “Have you already discovered the beginning that you are now asking about the end? For where the beginning is, there the end will be too.
(3) Blessed is he who will stand at the beginning. And he will know the end, and he will not taste death.”
(19) Jesus says:
(1)“Blessed is he who was, before he came into being.
(2) If you become disciples of mine (and) listen to my words, these stones will serve you.
(3) For you have five trees in Paradise that do not change during summer (and) winter, and their leaves do not fall.
(4) Whoever comes to know them will not taste death.”
(20)
(1) The disciples said to Jesus: “Tell us whom the kingdom of heaven is like!”
(2) He said to them: “It is like a mustard seed.
(3) <It> is the smallest of all seeds.
(4) But when it falls on cultivated soil, it produces a large branch (and) becomes shelter for the birds of the sky.”
(21)
(1) Mary said to Jesus: “Whom are your disciples like?”
(2) He said: “They are like servants who are entrusted with a field that is not theirs.
(3) When the owners of the field arrive, they will say: ‘Let us have our field.’
(4) (But) they are naked in their presence so as to let them have it, (and thus) to give them their field.”
(5) “That is why I say: When the master of the house learns that the thief is about to come, he will be on guard before he comes (and) will not let him break into his house, his domain, to carry away his possessions.
(6) (But) you, be on guard against the world!
(7) Gird your loins with great strength, so that the robbers will not find a way to get to you.”
(8) “For the necessities for which you wait (with longing) will be found.
(9) There ought to be a wise person among you!
(10) When the fruit was ripe, he came quickly with his sickle in his hand, (and) he harvested it.
(11) Whoever has ears to hear should hear.”
(22)
(1) Jesus saw infants being suckled.
(2) He said to his disciples: “These little ones being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom.”
(3) They said to him: “Then will we enter the kingdom as little ones?”
(4) Jesus said to them: “When you make the two into one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside and the above like the below —
(5) that is, to make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female will not be female —
(6) and when you make eyes instead of an eye and a hand instead of a hand and a foot instead of a foot, an image instead of an image, (7) then you will enter [the kingdom].”
(23) Jesus says:
(1) “I will choose you, one from a thousand and two from ten thousand.
(2) And they will stand as a single one.”
(24)
(1) His disciples said: “Show us the place where you are, because it is necessary for us to seek it.
(2) He said to them: “Whoever has ears should hear!
(3) Light exists inside a person of light, and he shines on the whole world. If he does not shine, there is darkness.”
(25) Jesus says:
(1) “Love your brother like your life!
(2) Protect him like the apple of your eye!”
(26) Jesus says:
(1) “You see the splinter that is in your brother’s eye, but you do not see the beam that is in your (own) eye.
(2) When you remove the beam from your (own) eye, then you will see clearly (enough) to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”
(27)
(1) “If you do not abstain from the world, you will not find the kingdom.
(2) If you do not make the Sabbath into a Sabbath, you will not see the Father.”
(28) Jesus says:
(1) “I stood in the middle of the world, and in flesh I appeared to them.
(2) I found all of them drunk. None of them did I find thirsty.
(3) And my soul ached for the children of humanity, because they are blind in their heart, and they cannot see; for they came into the world empty, (and) they also seek to depart from the world empty.
(4) But now they are drunk. (But) when they shake off their wine, then they will change their mind.”
(29) Jesus says:
(1) “If the flesh came into being because of the spirit, it is a wonder.
(2) But if the spirit (came into being) because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders.
(3) Yet I marvel at how this great wealth has taken up residence in this poverty.”
Is it possible to identify the first-century man named Jesus behind the many stories and traditions about him that developed over 2,000 years in the Gospels and church teachings? Visit the Jesus/Historical Jesus study page to read free articles on Jesus in Bible History Daily.
(30) Jesus says:
(1) “Where there are three gods, they are gods.
(2) Where there are two or one, I am with him.”
(31) Jesus says:
(1) “No prophet is accepted in his (own) village.
(2) A physician does not heal those who know him.”
(32) Jesus says:
“A city built upon a high mountain (and) fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.”
(33) Jesus says:
(1) “What you will hear with your ear {with the other ear} proclaim from your rooftops.
(2) For no one lights a lamp (and) puts it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place.
(3) Rather, he puts it on a lampstand, so that everyone who comes in and goes out will see its light.”
(34) Jesus says:
“If a blind (person) leads a blind (person), both will fall into a pit.”
(35) Jesus says:
(1) “It is not possible for someone to enter the house of a strong (person) (and) take it by force unless he binds his hands.
(2) Then he will loot his house.”
(36) Jesus says:
“Do not worry from morning to evening and from evening to morning about what you will wear.”
(37)
(1) His disciples said: “When will you appear to us, and when will we see you?”
(2) Jesus said: “When you undress without being ashamed and take your clothes (and) put them under your feet like little children (and) trample on them,
(3) then [you] will see the son of the Living One, and you will not be afraid.”
(38) Jesus says:
(1) “Many times have you desired to hear these words, these that I am speaking to you, and you have no one else from whom to hear them.
(2) There will be days when you will seek me (and) you will not find me.”
(39) Jesus says:
(1) “The Pharisees and the scribes have received the keys of knowledge, (but) they have hidden them.
(2) Neither have they entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to.
(3) You, however, be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves!”
(40) Jesus says:
(1) “A grapevine was planted outside (the vineyard) of the Father.
(2) And since it is not supported, it will be pulled up by its roots (and) will perish.”
(41) Jesus says:
(1) “Whoever has (something) in his hand, (something more) will be given to him.
(2) And whoever has nothing, even the little he has will be taken from him.”
(42) Jesus says:
“Become passers-by.”
(43)
(1) His disciples said to him: “Who are you to say this to us?”
(2) “Do you not realized from what I say to you who I am?
(3) But you have become like the Jews! They love the tree, (but) they hate its fruit. Or they love the fruit, (but) they hate the tree.”
(44) Jesus says:
(1) “Whoever blasphemes against the Father, it will be forgiven him.
(2) And whoever blasphemes against the Son, it will be forgiven him.
(3) But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither on earth nor in heaven.”
(45) Jesus says:
(1) “Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs picked from thistles, for they do not produce fruit.
(2) A good person brings forth good from his treasure.
(3) A bad person brings (forth) evil from the bad treasure that is in his heart, and (in fact) he speaks evil.
(4) For out of the abundance of the heart he brings forth evil.”
(46) Jesus says:
(1) “From Adam to John the Baptist, among those born of women there is no one who surpasses John the Baptist so that his (i.e., John’s) eyes need not be downcast.”
(2) “But I have also said: Whoever among you becomes little will know the kingdom, and will surpass John.”
(47) Jesus says:
(1) “It is impossible for a person to mount two horses and to stretch two bows.
(2) And it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters. Else he will honor the one and insult the other.
(3) No person drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine.
(4) And new wine is not put into old wineskins, so that they do not burst; nor is old wine put into (a) new wineskin, so that it does not spoil it.
(5) An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, because a tear will result.”
(48) Jesus says:
“If two make peace with one another in one and the same house, (then) they will say to the mountain: ‘Move away,’ and it will move away.”
(49) Jesus says:
(1) “Blessed are the solitary ones, the elect. For you will find the kingdom.
(2) For you come from it (and) will return to it.”
(50) Jesus says:
(1) “If they say to you: ‘Where do you come from?’ (then) say to them: ‘We have come from the light, the place where the light has come into being by itself, has established [itself] and has appeared in their image.’
(2) If they say to you: ‘Is it you?’ (then) say: ‘We are his children, and we are the elect of the living Father.’
(3) If they ask you: ‘What is the sign of your Father among you?’ (then) say to them: ‘It is movement and repose.’”
The Nag Hammadi codices contain more than 50 early Christian texts, including the Gospel of Thomas. The forgotten gospel preserves sayings of Jesus that were not included in the canonical Gospels. Photo: Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont, California
(51)
(1) His disciples said to him: “When will the <resurrection> of the dead take place, and when will the new world come?”
(2) He said to them: “That (resurrection) which you are awaiting has (already) come, but you do not recognize it.”
(52)
(1) His disciples said to him: “Twenty-four prophets have spoken in Israel, and all (of them) have spoken through you.”
(2) He said to them: “You have pushed away the living (one) from yourselves, and you have begun to speak of those who are dead.”
(53)
(1) His disciples said to him: “Is circumcision beneficial, or not?”
(2) He said to them: “If it were beneficial, their father would beget them circumcised from their mother.
(3) But the true circumcision in the spirit has prevailed over everything.”
(54) Jesus says:
“Blessed are the poor. For the kingdom of heaven belongs to you.”
(55) Jesus says:
(1) “Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot become a disciple of mine.
(2) And whoever does not hate his brothers and his sisters (and) will not take up his cross as I do, will not be worthy of me.”
(56) Jesus says:
“Whoever has come to know the world has found a corpse.
And whoever has found (this) corpse, of him the world is not worthy.”
(57) Jesus says:
(1) “The kingdom of the Father is like a person who had (good) seed.
(2) His enemy came by night. He sowed darnel among the good seed.
(3) The person did not allow (the servants) to pull up the darnel.
He said to them: ‘Lest you go to pull up the darnel (and then) pull up the wheat along with it.’
(4) For on the day of the harvest the darnel will be apparent and it will be pulled up (and) burned.”
(58) Jesus says:
“Blessed is the person who has struggled. He has found life.”
(59) Jesus says:
“Look for the Living One while you are alive, so that you will not die (and) then seek to see him. And you will not be able to see (him).”
(60)
(1) <He saw> a Samaritan who was trying to steal a lamb while he was on his way to Judea.
(2) He said to his disciples: “That (person) is stalking the lamb.”
(3) They said to him: “So that he may kill it (and) eat it.”
(4) He said to them: “As long as it is alive he will not eat it, but (only) when he has killed it (and) it has become a corpse.”
(5) They said to him: “Otherwise he cannot do it.”
(6) He said to them: “You, too, look for a place for your repose so that you may not become a corpse (and) get eaten.”
(61)
(1) Jesus said: “Two will rest on a bed. The one will die, the other will live.”
(2) Salome said: “(So) who are you, man? You have gotten a place on my couch as a <stranger> and you have eaten from my table.”
(3) Jesus said to her: “I am he who comes from the one who is (always) the same. I was given some of that which is my Father’s.”
(4) “I am your disciple!”
(5) Therefore I say: If someone becomes < like > (God), he will become full of light.
But if he becomes one, separated (from God), he will become full of darkness.
(62) Jesus says:
(1) “I tell my mysteries to those who [are worthy] of [my] mysteries.”
(2) “Whatever you right hand does, your left hand should not know what it is doing.”
(63) Jesus says:
(1) “There was a rich person who had many possessions.
(2) He said: ‘I will use my possessions so that I might sow, reap, plant,
(and) fill my storehouses with fruit so that I will not lack anything.’
(3) This was what he was thinking in his heart. And in that night he died.
(4) Whoever has ears should hear.”
(64) Jesus says:
(1) “A person had guests. And when he had prepared the dinner, he sent his servant, so that he might invite the guests.
(2) He came to the first (and) said to him: ‘My master invites you.’
(3) He said: ‘I have bills for some merchants. They are coming to me this evening. I will go (and) give instructions to them. Excuse me from the dinner.’
(4) He came to another (and) said to him: ‘My master has invited you.’
(5) He said to him: ‘I have bought a house, and I have been called (away) for a day. I will not have time.’
(6) He went to another (and) said to him: ‘My master invites you.’
(7) He said to him: ‘My friend is going to marry, and I am the one who is going to prepare the meal. I will not be able to come. Excuse me from the dinner.’
(8) He came up to another (and) said to him: ‘My master invites you.’
(9) He said to him: ‘I have bought a village. Since I am going to collect the rent, I will not be able to come. Excuse me.’
(10) The servant went away. He said to his master: ‘Those whom you invited to the dinner have asked to be excused.’
(11) The master said to his servant: ‘Go out on the roads. Bring (back) whomever you find, so that they might have dinner.’
(12) Dealers and merchants (will) not enter the places of my Father.”
(65) He said:
(1) “A [usurer] owned a vineyard. He gave it to some farmers so that they would work it (and) he might receive its fruit from them.
(2) He sent his servant so that the farmers might give him the fruit of the vineyard.
(3) They seized his servant, beat him, (and) almost killed him. The servant went (back and) told his master.
(4) His master said: ‘Perhaps <they> did not recognize <him>.’
(5) He sent another servant, (and) the farmers beat that other one as well.
(6) Then the master sent his son (and) said: ‘Perhaps they will show respect for my son.’
(7) (But) those farmers, since they knew that he was the heir of the vineyard, seized him (and) killed him.
(8) Whoever has ears should hear.”
(66) Jesus says:
“Show me the stone that the builders have rejected. It is the cornerstone.”
(67) Jesus says:
“Whoever knows all, if he is lacking one thing, he is (already) lacking everything.”
(68) Jesus says:
(1) “Blessed are you when(ever) they hate you (and) persecute you.
(2) But they (themselves) will find no place there where they have persecuted you.”
(69) Jesus says:
(1) “Blessed are those who have been persecuted in their heart.
They are the ones who have truly come to know the Father.”
(2) “Blessed are those who suffer from hunger so that the belly of the one who wishes (it) will be satisfied.”
(70) Jesus says:
(1) “If you bring it into being within you, (then) that which you have will save you.
(2) If you do not have it within you, (then) that which you do not have within you [will] kill you.”
(71) Jesus says:
“I will [destroy this] house, and no one will be able to build it [again].”
(72)
(1) A [person said] to him: “Tell my brothers that they have to divide my father’s possessions with me.”
(2) He said to him: “Man, who has made me a divider?”
(3) He turned to his disciples (and) said to them: “I am not a divider, am I?”
(73) Jesus says:
(1) “The harvest is plentiful, but there are few workers.
(2) But beg the Lord that he may send workers into the harvest.”
(74) He said:
“Lord, there are many around the well, but there is nothing in the <well>.”
(75) Jesus says:
“Many are standing before the door, but it is the solitary ones who will enter the wedding hall.”
(76) Jesus says:
(1) “The kingdom of the Father is like a merchant who had merchandise and found a pearl.
(2) That merchant is prudent. He sold the goods (and) bought for himself the pearl alone.
(3) You too look for his treasure, which does not perish, (and) which stays where no moth can reach it to eat it, and no worm destroys it.”
(77) Jesus says:
(1) “I am the light that is over all. I am the All. The All came forth out of me. And to me the All has come.”
(2) “Split a piece of wood — I am there.
(3) Lift the stone, and you will find me there.”
(78) Jesus says:
(1) “Why did you go out to the countryside? To see a reed shaken by the wind,
(2) and to see a person dressed in soft clothing [like your] kings and your great persons?
(3) They are dressed in soft clothing and will not be able to recognize the truth.”
(79)
(1) A woman in the crowd said to him: “Hail to the womb that carried you and to the breasts that fed you.”
(2) He said to [her]: “Hail to those who have heard the word of the Father (and) have truly kept it.
(3) For there will be days when you will say: ‘Hail to the womb that has not conceived and to the breasts that have not given milk.’”
(80) Jesus says:
(1) “Whoever has come to know the world has found the (dead) body.
(2) But whoever has found the (dead) body, of him the world is not worthy.”
(81) Jesus says:
(1) “Whoever has become rich should be king.
(2) And the one who has power should renounce (it).”
(82) Jesus says:
(1) “The person who is near me is near the fire.
(2) And the person who is far from me is far from the kingdom.”
(83) Jesus says:
(1) “The images are visible to humanity, but the light within them is hidden in the image.
(2) {} The light of the Father will reveal itself, but his image is hidden by his light.”
(84) Jesus says:
(1) “When you see your likeness you are full of joy.
(2) But when you see your likenesses that came into existence before you — they neither die nor become manifest — how much will you bear?”
(85) Jesus says:
(1) “Adam came from a great power and a great wealth. But he did not become worthy of you.
(2) For if he had been worthy, (then) [he would] not [have tasted] death.”
(86) Jesus says:
(1) “[Foxes have] their holes and birds have their nest.
(2) But the son of man has no place to lay his head down (and) to rest.”
(87) Jesus says:
(1) “Wretched is the body that depends on a body.
(2) And wretched is the soul that depends on these two.”
(88) Jesus says:
(1) “The messengers and the prophets are coming to you, and they will give you what belongs to you.
(2) And you, in turn, give to them what you have in your hands (and) say to yourselves: ‘When will they come (and) take what belongs to them?’”
(89) Jesus says:
(1) “Why do you wash the outside of the cup?
(2) Do you not understand that the one who created the inside is also the one who created the outside?”
(90) Jesus says:
(1) “Come to me, for my yoke is gentle and my lordship is mild.
(2) And you will find repose for yourselves.”
(91)
(1) They said to him: “Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you.”
(2) He said to them: “You examine the face of sky and earth, but the one who is before you, you have not recognized, and you do not know how to test this opportunity.”
(92) Jesus says:
(1) “Seek and you will find.
(2) But the things you asked me about in past times, and what I did not tell you in that day, now I am willing to tell you, but you do not seek them.”
(93)
(1) “Do not give what is holy to the dogs, lest they throw it upon the dunghill.
(2) Do not throw pearls to swine, lest they turn <them> into [mud].”
(94) Jesus [says]:
(1) “The one who seeks will find.
(2) [The one who knocks], to that one will it be opened.”
(95) [Jesus says:]
(1) “If you have money, do not lend (it) out at interest.
(2) Rather, give [it] to the one from whom you will not get it (back).”
(96) Jesus [says]:
(1) “The kingdom of the Father is like [a] woman.
(2) She took a little bit of yeast. [She] hid it in dough (and) made it into huge loaves of bread.
(3) Whoever has ears should hear.”
(97) Jesus says:
(1) “The kingdom of the [Father] is like a woman who is carrying a [jar] filled with flour.
(2) While she was walking on [the] way, very distant (from home), the handle of the jar broke (and) the flour leaked out [on] the path.
(3) (But) she did not know (it); she had not noticed a problem.
(4) When she reached her house, she put the jar down on the floor (and) found it empty.”
(98) Jesus says:
(1) “The kingdom of the Father is like a person who wanted to kill a powerful person.
(2) He drew the sword in his house (and) stabbed it into the wall to test whether his hand would be strong (enough).
(3) Then he killed the powerful one.”
(99)
(1) The disciples said to him: “Your brothers and your mother are standing outside.”
(2) He said to them: “Those here, who do the will of my Father, they are my brothers and my mother.
(3) They are the ones who will enter the kingdom of my Father.”
(100)
(1) They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him: “Caesar’s people demand taxes from us.”
(2) He said to them: “Give Caesar (the things) that are Caesar’s.
(3) Give God (the things) that are God’s.
(4) And what is mine give me.”
(101)
(1) “Whoever does not hate his [father] and his mother as I do will not be able to be a [disciple] of mine.
(2) And whoever does [not] love his [father and] his mother as I do will not be able to be a [disciple] of mine.
(3) For my mother […], but my true [mother] gave me life.”
(102) Jesus says:
“Woe to them, the Pharisees, for they are like a dog sleeping in a cattle trough, for it neither eats nor [lets] the cattle eat.”
(103) Jesus says:
“Blessed is the person who knows at which point (of the house) the robbers are going to enter, so that [he] may arise to gather together his [domain] and gird his loins before they enter.”
(104)
(1) They said to [Jesus]: “Come, let us pray and fast today!”
(2) Jesus said: “What sin is it that I have committed, or wherein have I been overcome?
(3) But when the bridegroom comes out of the wedding chamber, then let (us) fast and pray.”
(105) Jesus says:
“Whoever will come to know father and mother, he will be called son of a whore.”
(106) Jesus says:
(1) “When you make the two into one, you will become sons of man.
(2) And when you say ‘Mountain, move away,’ it will move away.”
(107) Jesus says:
(1) “The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep.
(2) One of them went astray, the largest. He left the ninety-nine, (and) he sought the one until he found it.
(3) After he had toiled, he said to the sheep: ‘I love you more than the ninety-nine.’”
(108) Jesus says:
(1) “Whoever will drink from my mouth will become like me.
(2) I myself will become he,
(3) and what is hidden will be revealed to him.”
(109) Jesus says:
(1) “The kingdom is like a person who has a hidden treasure in his field, (of which) he knows nothing.
(2) And [after] he had died, he left it to his [son]. (But) the son did not know (about it either).
He took over that field (and) sold [it].
(3) And the one who had bought it came, and while he was ploughing [he found] the treasure.
He began to lend money at interest to whom he wished.”
(110) Jesus says:
“The one who has found the world (and) has become wealthy should renounce the world.”
(111) Jesus says:
(1) “The heavens will roll up before you, and the earth.
(2) And whoever is living from the living one will not see death.”
(3) Does not Jesus say: “Whoever has found himself, of him the world is not worthy”?
(112) Jesus says:
(1) “Woe to the flesh that depends on the soul.
(2) Woe to the soul that depends on the flesh.”
(113)
(1) His disciples said to him: “The kingdom — on what day will it come?”
(2) “It will not come by watching (and waiting for) it.
(3) They will not say: ‘Look, here!’ or ‘Look, there!’
(4) Rather, the kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it.”
(114)
(1) Simon Peter said to them: “Let Mary go away from us, for women are not worthy of life.”
(2) Jesus said: “Look, I will draw her in so as to make her male, so that she too may become a living male spirit, similar to you.”
(3) (But I say to you): “Every woman who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
* Adapted from Stephen J Patterson, James M Robinson and Hans-Gebhard Bethge, The Fifth Gospel: The Gospel of Thomas Comes of Age (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1998), pp. 7–32.
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There is sharp disagreement among scholars about the authenticity of the Gospel of Thomas. Those who argue in favour of its authenticity believe it is an early writing that represents early Christian thought, drawing on early oral tradition. Among those who believe the Gospel of Thomas is authentic, some argue that there are parallels with the hyothetical Q source, while another argues it is autonomous rather than dependent on the canonical Gospels. Others argue that the Gospel of Thomas was written in response to the Gospel of John.
Those who reject the authenticity of the Gospel of Thomas argue that it is a second century or later document that is connected to the start of the gnostic movement of the second century. It is difficult to accept that it is an early writing when Thomas quotes or alludes to more than half of the New Testament writings. One argues that the author of the Gospel of Thomas knew and used Tatian’s Diatessaron that was written around AD 170. Also evident in the Gospel of Thomas is late traditions distinctive to Eastern, Syrian Christianity in the second century, with one scholar dating Thomas no earlier than the last quarter of the second century. Some scholars suggest there is not biblical parallel at all, because of the significant difference in the disciples’ reaction to who Jesus is compared to the canonical Gospels.
I can see the religious feathers are really being ruffled just as they were in the day of Yeshua. People are stuck in their dogma and cannot break out of these prisons of their mind that have been built by those who have desired to control us through establishments. It will be interesting to see what the 711 books that were buried in the tunnel between the Vatican and Israel have to say. And why would such books and manuscripts be hidden away? Isn’t it interesting they gave us 66 books and kept 711 for themselves. Let’s add those two numbers and what do we get ?777 very interesting isn’t it?Would it be because there’s so much truth that could really upset the apple cart? I believe mankind is much more powerful than we have ever realized because the God that created heaven and earth created man in His image and likeness lives within us. Did not Yeshua say the kingdom of God is within you? Don’t you know that you are god’s? Well who’s living like a god? Who’s loving like a god? Some real food for thought. All the church can do is judge, judge, judge. If a person isn’t just like you, doing just what you do, believing just what you believe, they’re outcast. Is that what Yeshua came to teach us? Time to take a real good look at one’s self! The church declares it is spiritual and yet they do absolutely nothing spiritual. It will all come out in the wash because we are in the Great revelation – the great revealing -all that has been hidden away is now being revealed. And if the kingdom is within then shouldn’t there be a little more emphasis and focus on the heart rather than the intellect of the mind? And where was Yeshua from the time we last hear of him in the New testament as a young man for some 20 years before he came out into his ministry? where was he? Could he have been learning some things that we have convinced ourselves are not Christian and don’t fit in with our beloved holier than thou dogma. And if your “religion” serves you well then stay there. Some just don’t have a thirst and are satisfied with the status quo. It never served me and I had to move on to find out more Truth for myself. I was tired of hearing the same old, same old messages refurbished and renovated with a new joke or two here and there. I had to move on and do my own deep dive searching and now that I have found more truth I am a happier, more peaceful,more loving and a more fulfilled individual. I’ve been able to overcome things that the church never helped me to overcome. I guess the fruit is what I was looking for and I have definitely found it. I wish everyone well on their journey and search for their own truth. We will all one day answer the question did we learn to love while we were here? Blessings
It is very true what you say. Whether there are 711 extras or not. Original scripture fills the soul and is enough for the lifetime and to accomplish the greatest of works in “Faith”
I say because it is happening, I am being intruded apron by theElohiem.
And hopefully We are casting a large mill stone into the sea.
Surly people can appreciate to hear and see? Other perceptions
Of the true nature of the spirit vs. the flesh… to truly trace history is to understand in this matter a few or narrow key points…
Jesus came to show the spiritual nature of our interpretation Of law and prophets.. Jesus came to condemn the physical church of man… the true disciple went underground and surrounded Egypt as prophesied… the narrative of Pauline doctrine was excepted by Roman occupation… as the say “ when in Rome do what the Romans due “… yet Joshua said this .. as for me and my house we will serve the lord… I’ll give a hint to students only
Trace the wars of then and now and ask yourself this can true motives ever be excepted in this place? What happened then is happening now at its completion… I’m so happy God almighty has allowed truth not to be wiped out? It is to our benefit to study from a spiritual standpoint.. it is to our spiritual benefits to understand the mystic nature is only saying this.. it’s more to life then meets the naked eyes…it’s more to the true creator and the physical interpretations then meets the naked eyes.. and what’s blinded our naked lack of understanding..was things added and taken away ? 6 is incompleteness 66 is the total of the canonical a scripture add man’s number as 6.. now you have total incompleteness my favorite book is the lost sayings of the Christ ..yet I’ll say reading between all its lines is the correct approach..
One of the Early Church Fathers wrote “Heretics have many Gospels, the Church has only 4. These pseudo gospels have in common that they draw only what they want from the 4 canonical Gospels, and add anything else
that suits their beliefs, They were all written one or two centuries after Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Drew, that is a highly contested position, which many including myself don’t think can be substantiated. Scholarly consensus would place it 2nd half of the 2nd century.
To those concerned about the lion and the man. In shorthand, the “lion” is the third chakra and the third chakra relates to our way of being in the world. So, the lion who has eaten the man is the case of a person being run by the world around him/her. The man eating the lion is the person who has more of his soul in relating to the world around.
Now if you have read the plaidians message..and you have stood firmly upon the cornerstone.
You will understand. The differences..of those whom..teach..that father be a source..yet they know not..
That we be in a relationship..with father as sons and daughters..
They teach great things..which are already apart of you..
You may wish for them to step in..but i expect..you will be gladly know whom you have already requested to enter..by knocking..
But there are indeed more..
So hold on to the spirit..which you have.
Or more will enter..and youll be worse off
than you were..
DNA..growth..to a higher realm..
So then see. Why you already know..
Yet they do not speak of father..but say source..
So who is thier father..that they would not say..
And see what a ..step in.. does..
So your gift is flesh..and life and truth..
And spirit granted..grants..this truth.
….
Because there are those around you that never die…and their really really smart…
Like divine matrix smart..
So why dont they say father..
Yeah..for I recognize that voice and sound ….it is the anointed one…it look like it was coming within words spoken by me ..long time ago….it has no different form by soul food….
If i could leave you a gift..which reflects our truth..and also which reflects every word of christ..
It may touch your heart to know this truth..and if you understand why we struggle so much in this reality..
Please seek the
Pleiadian message..
And i hope it sits well upon your
Heart.
Sometimes is good to read
That which you
Already know.
…
And who we are.
From the inside out.
It was very painful when I was going through my trials which was reliving the many murders and deaths I where he kept death from gripping me that first started as nightmares while asleep. Then I started reliving them still awake and I wrestled with God not to accept that many times being Crussified again at mankind’s hands! The still unaccepting my Identity he put the sons of then world upon my body. I cried in deep sorrow uncontrollably for an entire day. I finally fell asleep and it took 3 days to be able to again get out of my bed and stand
It was if men had beaten me with fists from head to toe and finally returned to my feet! Even after all that I found my self saying to him” Really if I do that I will be killed” but I did as he willed me to do! Then uh e would instruct me to physically do his binding
Again his will be done! Then his lesson come to conclusion and I would say Wow! Or That was way to cool! Then that become the Bang you just got hit right between TT he eyes with a snowball. Later it is call a revelation!
For the child is born from spirit and into flesh..which comes from spirit..
And yet there is only spirit..
For the gift of flesh..of life..
Depends upon love..and not one thing
Is seperate..from this..
Yet sadly..if you do not feed the child the child will not get to live ..and father is with the living..
Yet the child may be born again..the
Reserection..
Its christmas today..
Upon this day some celibrate..the birth of our savour to whom the crown was given and whom is also granted. To give the proof. Of the truth of our heavenly father..as well as..to know my father as i have known father..
And as father is a spirit force..which is of all the attributes..of his spirit of truth..
..
Which reflects our divine being. And then so to . will the things of this truth be shown..to you..
And of that which you can ask a baby..of seven days..
Surley from such a miracle. Does this child..carry the attrubutes of its divine existence..as well as ..now please hear this. And understand..for the child depends..on those around. Whom nurture
And care with love..as this is granted to you. As a gift..from your father..for
Its christmas..
On this day a child was born..
Its christmas today..
Upon this day some celibrate..the birth of our savour to whom the crown was given and whom is also granted. To give the proof. Of the truth of our heavenly father..as well as..to know my father as i have known father..
And as father is a spirit force..which is of all the attributes..of his spirit of truth..
..
Which reflects our divine being. And then so to . will the things of this truth be shown..to you..
And of that which you can ask a baby..of seven days..
Surley from such a miracle. Does this child..carry the attrubutes of its divine existence..as well as ..now please hear this. And understand..for the child depends..on those around. Whom nurture
And care with love..as this is granted to you. As a gift..from your father..for
Its christmas..
There for . with every faith..jesus is given authority over all of them..
For as much as we believe. By any faith
So too is it that indeed. Still we must realize the holy spirit is gods spirit..
And it resides in you..
There is nothing to fear..for it has been with you. From the beginning..less you be
Of another belief..and for sure..where
Fear and trembling..must be conquiered.
But too. Surely
As the measure of a angel is the measure of a man..i measure that of this angel..within as to be only love and it fits perfectly. With all of fathers attributes..
And then. The cock crows and the tree bows and the dog comes..
So who then is that angel..
Though i mean not to take..
That of naravana or heaven..or that of the pillars of enlightenment away..
As you are at and indeed in levels of such a journey..
Yet there be fires..cast..
After all..
He gives us.
This Grace..to know him.
And where he resides..
Even though…yet he rises him.
And i bow at both his grace
And wisdom..
And cry tears for Mary
And bleed for Christ..
Just as my father does.
As man kind..didnt realise..when we die
We really dont..
And as sons of man. We therefore had no place to lay our heads. . so this light from within..grants us this knowledged..
And then being sons of god..
We dont die. Were celestial beings.
..
But being as such. Jesus also showed us
Its dangerous to teach another faith..and
Perhaps. Theyll kill you.
So that also being said..
Let the holy man still be holy and let the righteous man be righteous..
And …
Therefore.
Becareful. Out there..
But its sure is good to see Thomas writtings..and so many of you are so inlightened..im so pleased..
And though i see alot of negativity aswell
Im glad you made it to here..you are seeking..and thats cool..
And these monkey suits..are really just for now..and hold on..
Theres going to be a day..
Back to the garden in paridice..and we will all know where to lay our heads.
It just takes time..but light travels pretty fast..
And if you think about it..we live here for such a small period of time..and father has had eternty to think about what he is doing..and if we found the answer in just a short time..will be alright and so will your brother and sisters..So really
How smart do you think father is..
So dont worry…
And for now i reach with my hands .to give aid..to the needy..and i serve all fathers children..
Just as he serves us..
So I send my love..and fill his heart..
Sometime i cry.
To answer ART..verse 30
Well irishmen in the pub . really dont care.
…but many faiths…have many Gods.
Christians have.. i am..
Or Abba
At least i hope they understand that
And where two become one.
Which is the reality..of our existence.
One spirit one person.
Father being..the one within.
I am there.
In that of profetic..doctrine..
And that he has a fire to light..
If then i stood before the mighty dragon..
I would of had no chance at all
With out him..
And he writes..
What if it were already kindled..or more so he wished it was already kindled.
Sometimes we have no idea of the heavenly rules..
But who sent him..was not the dragon.
If you have Christ living inside of you, you have been resurrected and can easily understand these sayings. Do you think it easy to find the Kingdom? Only if you fast from the world and seek it with your whole being will you find it.
NUMBER 22 IN THE SAYINGS–IT IS A PARABLE–THE MISSING KEY—WHEN YOU APPLY THIS PARABLE TO YOUR WORLD–THE KNOWLEDGE WILL APPEAR–YOU WILL FIND A IMAGE OF A PERSON IN EVERYTHING–BUT ONE IMAGE MAY BE A PART OF ANOTHER IMAGE–THIS IS WHY U CANT SEE IT–FOLLOW THE SEPARATION POINTS—YOU ARE BORN BLIND–SEE WHAT IS IN FRONT OF YOU–AT FIRST YOU WILL BE DISTURBED–THEN YOU WILL MARVEL
The gnostic interests make this gospel less credible… believers should be very careful. There were other pseudo gospels around as The Way was spreading. Paul warns the believers to be wary of false gospels and so should we.
The difference is that all those who identify themselves as experiencing Christ in the now, know the truth of what they see, and they say that Thomas told the truth. However for some reason those who do not identify themselves as experiencing Christ in the now, seem to imagine that the humble follower to take the place of Jesus should be Peter and his Roman palace, rather than the obscure and unknown Justin the Just. It does not seem like it should confuse, yet the people of the world always love the opposite of the truth.
I think that the big problem with the Gospel of Thomas is that it suggests that we can be saved through knowing something rather than through faith in Jesus. I would not recommend it to someone who has faith in Jesus but to the atheists, agnostics, scientists (who may overlap) it may be very helpful. I was a science loving atheist. Thomas’s gospel helps me to see how Jesus’s message could be true and makes me want to have faith in him. How do we make the two become one?
The message is definitely that we can be “saved by knowing something”. The only faith we need in Jesus is the faith to know that what he says is true!
No one is going to die! We merely misunderstand the nature of our existence.
The “two becoming one” does not mean a man and woman becoming one by marriage but by the spirit entering into the newly born baby to become a single, conscious and sentient human being.
Although the body will die in due course, when it does, the spirit will pass back into the home world to continue it’s existence.
Jesus Said: “Even though you die, yet shall you live!”
One reason the Gospel of Thomas did not make it into the Bible was because the resurrection was preferred by the composers of the Bible rather than the Transmigration of the Soul concept, which was a well accepted principle in Jesus’ time
He says that we all start in Heaven by being born into the “new world” which is all around us and when we die, the spirit returns there.
Thomas 18: The disciples asked Jesus when their end would be and he replied:
Have you therefore discovered the beginning? For where the beginning is, there will be the end. Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning.: He will know the end and will not experience death
These sayings are illogically put together. Reading them is dissonance at its worst. I appreciate the fact that these are recovered texts, but they are antithetical to the canonical Gospels…
It seems to me they are from a drunkard who wished in a moment of sobriety he were a disciple of Jesus the Christ… May be he had the opportunity, like Nicodemus, but rejected it for the cares of the world…
May God grant solace to this lost soul!
Perhaps the people of the world have difficulty in seeing the truth. One would imagine that the entire purpose of Christ coming to show people the way would be a clue that they had difficulty seeing the truth, or he would not have needed to come, but these are the kinds of details that pass straight over your head when you spend too long wondering about what lovely things can be eaten for dinner, or if there is anything good on the telly. Rather than judging the words based upon their dissonance with the Roman Government’s approved first century truncated edit, perhaps contemplation, and logic would be better tools than faith, just in this one instance.
Remove the logs from your eyes pastor and you will see the truth. I and my Father are one. And know this. Your physical body is the Soul. The spirit returns to the Father who gave it. We’re but vessels that contain that spirit of consciousness.
There is more to the story of Nicodemus than his appointment with Jesus at night. He was at the cross, he was at the tomb–the rest is yet to be learned.
Hi there. My understanding is that the Gospel of Thomas has a large chunk of the sayings, roughly half of it, that are present in the four canonical gospels of the new testament. If so, it would have been helpful if these texts above were highlighted so that readers could compare the writings to the canonized writings of the Bible. Will it be possible if someone could point out these sayings, I’d really appreciate any form of help, thanks.
(2) And anathema is the person whom a lion will eat and the lion will become human.”
– IS THIS WHAT YOU MEAN IS AN ALIEN?? WHY SHOULD WE WORSHIP THAT CREATURE?? GOD MADE ME ACCORDING TO HIS IMAGE I SHOULD WORSHIP “JESUS CHRIST”!! IT’S TUME FOR YOU TO WAKE UP TO TGE TRUTH!! THE CREATOR OF THE HEAVENS AND EARTH IS OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.FOR YOUR INFORMATION YOU BETTER READ A LOT ABOUT BIBLE AND UNDERSTAND AND ANALYZE WHAT GOD SAY’S TO US!! HE’S COMING SOON! AND YOU MUST PREPARE YOURSELF!!
Most things have multiple meanings. What I gained from this, is that when one eats another creature, one takes on something of its essence. So if you eat beef you become more docile and unenlightened. If you eat pork you become greedier. I considered this passage might be related to that phenomenon, in that if you were to eat a Lion, you would take on some of the character of the Lion, and the Lion likewise would take on some of the character of whatever it ate. The effect is clearly more pronounced to those who are sensitive to it, and especially at times of high energy such as now. Those of you in this mind state should be cautious. Eating little is the best. Digestion in general does not seem comfortable for me. We have been too well trained for consumption as an economic driver.
It is egyptian symbology. Having the lion (sechmeth) as a head (being on top) means power out of control. Having a human head means power in an intelligent and cortolled manner. The sphinx is a symbol for that. Got that impulse by the documetary “Die Rätsel der Sphinx Doku über die Sphinx Teil 3” (sry, german)
In the Bible you will find a lot of macroeconomics, systems theory and conceptualisation, psychoanalysis, astronomy, calendars and so on. Who has jet not known that Jesus, “walking” over the water, is actually the sun? If so, watch Zeitgeist the Movie (fist episode). In other context one could understand God, the creator of (our presonal) world, as actually being the mind, reconstructing reality from our senses (this realness, each of us with our individual one, is pure mind, illusion, maya, thoughts, numbers – whatever you want to call it, and is as different from actual reality as a map is from the landscape). Lucifer being the intellect and Jesus, the son of God, is actually consciousness, emerging from an increasingly complex self-organised system (mind, God). Satan, the fallen angel, the subconcious mind, the “it” needing lucifer to come into existance, since it takes a conscious intention to harm someone, to do something truly evil (satanic).
When it comes to religion, basically think of what were the most profound needs for human civilisation? Calendar (astronomical observations), creating a stable society based on the division of labour, wealth distribution and in particular money. Every aspect you’ll find allegorically paraphrased and of course a lot of mental manipulation and creation of unspecific fear as a central instrument of power of all times. Just look for the parallels of today capitalism and catholizism. Both need the concepts of guilt and atonement as a bases ( nowaday you would call it credit and debt). Same mechanics, same thing basically. The world of God is our imagination. Ofcourse christianity assimilated alot of different cults and ritualized knowledge. So it inclueds alot of pilisopic conctes and rites ofer a wide period of time, at least since gilgamesh.
Religion has not nesessarily to be beliefed to work. Its allegorical, sybmolical concepts bypass the conciousness and acts directly upon the subconcious. Just like what one would describe as “predictive programming” nowadays. Your mind gets intruduced to certain concepts, like that of the master and servant, or guil and atonement. There are good and bad things with that. Bsically religion is a absolute need. But it can be used to manipulate the sheeple. Best example might be the movie “Clockwork Orange” from Kubrick. In the worst case everyone, even the Pharisees, forget about the true meaning (which is pure rational yet abstract) and start to understand it literally (See this gosphel nr. 39).
The exodus of the Israelites is, I think, rather the transition from primitive socialism (Egypt) to the gold-based monetary system. Much of the Torah deals with economic issues, such as bankruptcy law. Creation of the world could at different plasces also be understood the transition from hunter ander gatherers to a society based on the division of labour, whose mechanisms were devised by the mind (God). Jet all have failed till today (still not the right messia – system conceptuation).
Wish you all the best, stay concious and may god and in particular jesus be always with you.
There are two manuscripts of this gospel and they are not the same. This one from the Nag Hammadi manuscript is not as old as the Coptic version. The Copic was has not all survived. This one has sayings that seem to go against the main focus of Jesus teaching, to love one’s neighbour as one selves. It also seems to have some gnostic interests.
I would not be to quick to say that those are the true words if Jesus.
Jesus was not just born as an enlightened teacher. He had to grow and become who he was. Thomas was with him during the time when he was still becoming complete. His words are true, but they show things that cannot be seen in the cleaned up for public consumption and publishing version. Never expect the notes of a writer to be the same high quality as the state approved published version.
As the inner light grows to full strength, it bursts out beyond the limits of the physical body. Once it is fully integrated with the energy that is outside the physical body, the inner body of light becomes part of all. Then the body itself is more like a faucet, than a permanent residence. The body will be better preserved, but when it does go, it makes no difference to the light.
Intellectual death from the new, sophisticated manipulation system (guiltiness cult), propably introduced by the romans or ethen the jews, to escape the violence and fear-based system of the Romans and to create a mental escape from this spiritual prison. Maybe also monetray death. Not sure which is more proper.
Just look at the dozens of correlations to astronomy. The sun, having 3 days the same hight over the horizon around christmas before it starts to travel back to the equator (rebirth afer 3 days and triumph over the night – the evil). The exact same plot of jesus birth and the virgin was alredy present in egypt (Moses) and so many others. Jesus, walking over the water…come on…it’s the sun! The gods get humanised, just as in egypt with The cross with the circle in the middle. its the circle of the zodiac, with the axis being the noth and south turning circles as well as the equator and the sun in the middle.
Jesus was most probyply a genious guy, when reading these texts i think also autistic. He might had a lot insight and unerstanding of psycology and the inner workings of mind as well as politcs and econimics. Most probably he was not a single guy. Maybe something like Attack today. The romans used a trick, disqualifing hin from a genious, potential revoluzer, to a miracle-working magical uncle. You would call that framing or poisening the fountain today. A psycological trick, not done for the first time, to discredid opposition.
Modern, post 17th Century interpretations of thr 1611 KJV Bible is in itself a dangerous platform of “interpretation-s. The Holy Bible has been reduced to skim milk by too many splitting hairs of every word of God and Jesus. To fit so called modern societies. Be aware of how you can stray . What applies in 30 AD applies just as well for all times.
“Lord, there are many around the well, but there is nothing in the .”
should be
“Lord, there are many standing around the well, but there is no one inside the well”
the way you translate it, the second part of the logion doesn’t correlate with the first properly. the word nothing isn’t quite right. the translation I’ve heard is “lord there are many standing about the well, but no one… IN the well.” I understand the meaning of that. The awareness of the kingdom here and now and that a part of you deep within is that. It’s tat tvam asi. It’s he you has seen me has seen the father. get with now. get IN the well. Don’t stand about waiting for it, thinking it’s some goodie at the end of the line. It’s always here. Eternal. okay I’m done
Thank you. That is a good interpretation. The one I had taken is that one must be empty in order to find the centre so that you could become filled with God. Jesus said many things which could be taken by many people in many different ways. Perfect expression. We hear what we are supposed to. I am glad I was supposed to also be helped by you.
Verse 55, without the context of verse 101, can be easily misinterpreted to hate your father and mother to become a disciple of jesus !!! but then throughout the Gospel – it is promoted that we turn 2 into 1 and not further separate from each other. Is this not a contradiction on the highest level?
You would have to have some fascinating misconceptions about 1st century Galilee to reach that particular conclusion. I suppose if transgender operations remained popular long enough that 0AD and 2020AD were hard to tell apart, then it might lead to that conclusion, but if they have been fashionable for that long, I doubt it will create any existential conflicts for anyone. They will clearly not be the same type of being as we are.
I really enjoyed the reading and most of it I will try to adhere to. The lost words are still lost too many and the Bible was written in such a fashion as not to take away or add to. I just wish I could read it in the language it was written in. that would be so enlightening. Thanks for the publishing of this old text as it will no doubt add to my walk with God.
The Bible was not written in such a fashion that nothing could be added or taken away. It was originally far greater than four gospels, but they chose four for its significance. The four corners. So as to strengthen it. Therefore they kept the gospels that were deemed most appropriate to see that God’s work, Jesus great work, would come to fruition. It is a bit Machiavellian, but it was originally written as an exercise in neurolinguistic programming. So the translation from Latin to English has damaged its efficacy far more than adding in any of the lost gospels or additional sources ever could have done. Having said that, I am not entirely sure I would trust a Bible that was not in Coptic. Seems a bit suspicious if it is in Latin. It is a bit like if all future accounts of Donald Trump’s views on the covid virus were all the Chinese versions. You’d have to wonder if perhaps an English language version might not be more generous.
Jesus said that after he resurrected he would not need to speak in parables to his disciples anymore. Why is this gospel of Thomas still being communicated in parables?
I would imagine this would be before he was resurrected. The unusual things that are said a lot of the time, are very much like the ways a person expresses themselves as they are going through the process of awakening. Thomas was a very close friend to Jesus, one of the closest because he had a special connection. For this reason he saw the side of Jesus that was not yet fully polished. He also got to see the mischievous side too. Jesus was definitely someone who had a good sense of humour. Obviously he would have the perfect sense of humour. I wonder if his tale of the kingdom of heaven being like a woman who takes yeast to make full loaves, might not be, such a tasteful boob joke that no one has got it till now.
To those that say “nay”, for that is your answer. To understand the words and apply them to your path, you are surely heading home. Love one another as He loves us. Give from your heart and not your head. No darkness will enter in the gate. If you will not sup here, why do you think you will there. Walk in the light, your path is clear.
it sounds like the people who comment above want to pick and choose what they like or what fits in with their current distorted thinking. If you pick one piece to believe you must believe it all if you think it has anything to so with biblical times, whenever that was. As for me it is al a big fairy tale but one that has made some people lots of money
I have to point out a glaring flaw in your logic. Simply because you believe something about biblical times does not necessarily mean you have to believe all things about biblical times. Take these two statements: Jesus was nailed to a cross; and, McDonald’s sold out of burgers because the crowds that came to see were so huge. Both statements are about the same day. Only one of them is one that must be believed. The other, can just be used for advertising purposes. You just ca’t stop people making money out of fairy tales. For many people, that is The fairly tale ending.
Perhaps, those of us who have come across this website have done so because we are truly “seeking”. What if we were to simply stop analysing the actual wording of this gospel and the other gospels, and stop trying to critique all the various translations from the confines of our human brain, and try harder and harder to find repose, and quietly look within ourselves. Maybe then the conditions will be right to allow us to better understand what we need to know…….. Does it really matter which group of people claim they have the correct translation? Should we waste time arguing about this? Perhaps Jesus says is simply guiding us to make time to be still enough to look within and hear from God directly…..
So far this year, I have only seen one mistake that an Elizabeth has made, it seems to me that you are almost always right. I love that you have totally got this so much better than any of the rest of us. It is a bit more zen. I can imagine a spiritual gathering, with all people discussing the road to God, then in walks Elizabeth, shouts Shut Up, and all awaken.
I am uncertain of the validity of the translation of the Gospel of Thomas. While some of it sheds light upon who we are and of whom we belong, it is lacking the fruits of the Spirit. There is no love within the logic driven words. It is translated in such a way as to contradict too many things. I understand most of it, but it seems written with a bitter spirit. I will glean what i can from it and take what lines up with Scripture. Use discernment and the Full Armor when reading and gleaning.
The Nicean Councisl dicated the doctrine of the early church. Knowing what we know about people in position of power today, do manipulation and control seem like pervasive themes? Fear keeps people in line, if you pay attention, he’s saying that people are reincarnated and that the kingdom of God is here on earth. Much different than the “you’ll get yours when you die” theme thats both prevalent and extremely useful for the ultra-wealthy, as it always has been.
I don’t believe the Gospel of Thomas it is contrary to the basic teachings of the Bible whic ch believes in the virgin birth of Jesus His life the many healings , the casting out of demons, the suffering up to and through His crusifiction, His resurrection and assention into heaven and to be seated at the right hand of God. These ar my beliefs the Gospel of John 3:16 For God so love the world that He gave His only begaton Son that who so ever believed in Him should not parish but have ever lasting life. Amen
I agree with you on the facts as you have stated them, but I am not sure of your logic for disbelieving Thomas. You say you do not believe the things Thomas says because they appear to be contrary to the idea of virgins giving birth, people healing by touching, casting out demons, resurrecting, and ascending to heaven. I have to ask, would Thomas have been more believable if he had said that Jesus was accompanied everywhere by a giant white rabbit called Harvey, and would often leap over tall buildings? That seems to be less contrary to the things you mention, yet it does not seem more believable. Don’t worry about whether the poor and ill remembered Thomas is contrary to the State approved official publication as permitted by the powers that be. That contrariness is irrelevant to what is in our hearts.
(50) Jesus says:
(1) “If they say to you: ‘Where do you come from?’ (then) say to them: ‘We have come from the light, the place where the light has come into being by itself, has established [itself] and has appeared in their image.’
(2) If they say to you: ‘Is it you?’ (then) say: ‘We are his children, and we are the elect of the living Father.’
(3) If they ask you: ‘What is the sign of your Father among you?’ (then) say to them: ‘It is movement and repose.’”
So the sign of the Father among them (or an individual) isn’t Holiness and righteousness, as the Old Testament and the New testament proclaim: but rather movement and repose”? Ha, ha, ha, what a bunch of garbage this is.
A five year old should be able to see how pathetically phony this is.
Who ever wrote this dribble threw in enough of what is written in Mathew, Luke Mark and John to make is seem as if it were real: what a hoax, but that’s the way it is with all the false religions (such even as Christianity) they throw in enough scripture to make it appear real, then go off on their own tangents = a false religion.
If you stopped moving and reposing your lungs you would be dead in about ten minutes. All in nature is movement and repose. The ignorant are able to sit in one place and do nothing as their body rots, or they are able to work hard when their body is worn and needs rest. This is not the will of God. This is a will against nature, and therefore against God. The nature of Jesus and his disciples is they were perfectly in tune with the world, and perfectly in tune with their own cycles of nature. You could recognise them because if God told them to move, they would move, but if God told them to stop, they would stop. This is not how people who are not with Christ act. That is the point that is being made. Clearly it would take far more than a five year old’s comprehension to see this, because I am afraid you missed it. If you remove all that is of Mathew, Luke, Mark and John, then you find that what is left is the real treasury that will show you not just what Jesus said, but will give you specific instructions on how to reach the kingdom of heaven. Ask those who have found it. There are several commenting here. They are often recognised by their complete failure to recognise standardised spelling and grammar. It is a Luciferian trait. The Earth has a lot of, not exactly visitors, but not exactly the usual crowd. If you have been waiting for a significant Biblical event, then 2021 is waiting just a touch too long.
I’m not understanding why “you” are changing key words. I wouldn’t follow this’ he never said you will be king! What I have learned is people want to put their bias marks on things or in must cases mis-lead others. Always be honest, it goes along way in righteousness. No disrespect; this is my opinion only!.
In reading all these texts, they are a compilation of what already exists within context in the Bible. Any missing neuences in translation can be accessed in a lexicon that I have. The problem with most Christian persuasions, the followers do not wish to make a complete and utter surrender to the Holy Spirit which is the seal of our salvation. Through the Holy Spirit we are told that we can renew our mind. With this renewed mind Christ said that the kingdom ofGod lives within us. The book of Thomas makes no new revelations but for a deep Biblical scholar all these alternate meanings are considered and weighed up against alternate understanding. I agree most Christians do not really understand the reality of the Kingdom of God within them. However, this does not presuppose that this power originates within us but this power is from God Himself through surrender to the Holy Spirit.
Lack of Christian science on the nature of the light does indeed not presuppose it comes from within. Thomas however stating that Jesus says it does, directly states it comes from within. The nature of the light is the electricity that powers our nervous systems. The nerve signals that tell us what sensations we receive from the outside world, and the signals we use to trigger our muscles. As the energy gets higher within us, and we become better able to generate our own energy, and to draw in energy from without, it approaches a point where the brain becomes saturated with electricity, causing a vast number of lateral connections. This means that whatever you need to know, your chances of hitting the correct thought have just gone up by a massive amount. It also means that you are taking in far more sensory data, and it also means that your body is dealing far more efficiently with all the signals telling it what needs repair and reconstruction, and what nutrients are needed to make that possible. Once the energy has saturated body and brain, it then spills out and you connect with Eden, then you have the energy within and the energy without, but you are not going to be able to climb out of that hole by sitting there doing nothing. Once you are out, Eden can hold you, but you have to make the effort first.
All these words and saying are found in the Bible as well, but they are shattered or implemented in several examples and stories. Open your eyes and read the bible closely and you will find them.
Thanks for this contribution to revealing the truth. The first comment is ridiculous and is written by one of those fanaticis who is blind to the truth, those who maintain that every letter in the KJV is absolut true (sorry to say, they live in darkness). Every person with the slightest resemblance of a brain will understand how wrong it is… so in some way it is not of any use to argue with them, as Jesus said himself, that it is no use to throw the pearls for the pigs (my aunt used to say that “if you send a pig to the university, it will still be a pig when it returns).
Jesus said also things as that we should see with our inner eye and similarly, that we shall listen with our inner ear. And likewise that, when we make the internal the same as the external, we will enter the kingdom. He was not talking about a relative future, but about here and now, meaning that the kingdom is available to us when we choose the only one right master, which is the higher Self, in contradiction to the constructed mind, a confined consciousness. He said: “You can’t serve two masters, you have to choose one of them (the mind or the higher Self; as long as we give our mind, the psychological part of it, in contradiction to the practical part, our attention, we will live in a kind of hellish reality, meaning that we serve the lower side of ourselves; as C.G. Jung said: as long as we live in a lower form of consciousness, we will continue to project our mind on the world, which means that we will live in a fragmented world, the opposite to a united world.
The most enlightened persons live in accordance to the will of God (John of the Cross, Francis of Assisi and so many others of the sages) and are the most tremendous contributor’s to a world in peace (not in pieces; the world emanating from minds who are totally absorbed by the identification with themselves as objects = the body).
Jesus was sometimes frustrated about the fact that people come into this world and seems to leave it without any progression. I met some people during my life who, in spite of their age (about 90 years old) said that they never had thought about God; they were totally absorbed by the external world and all the events going on.
Many of the sayings, according to the gospel of Thomas are difficult to understand, but you have to consider why Jesus couldn’t explain things of the utmost importance for developing as humans, which will be totally clear when you understand what Jesus said to Thomas, that he no longer was his disciple, which was an indication that he got (understood) his teaching, and transgressed to a higher understanding; enlightenment. The other disciples didn’t understand what he was saying and asked Thomas what he said. Thomas answered that he couldn’t tell them, because if he did, they would pick up stones and kill him (this is exactly the reason why Jesus was killed, because the pharisees couldn’t understand what Jesus meant by: I and my father are one, as little as they could understand that he said: “I am before Abraham”, indicating that he was before the space- and time continuum).
The time seems to be mature for the finding of this gospel, since we live in a time when we don’t kill people (anyway in the west), if they would have a contradicting opinion to the collective assumptions of what is the truth. This seems also to be the reason to why the gospel of Thomas was found in Nag Hammadi, after been hidden in the sand for about 2000 years. Let’s say that many people had been witnessing an accident and some people in an authoritative position decided that only some of the witnesses was allowed to tell their “story” because of some subjective measurement. Would we accept this in our so called free society of today, if we of some reason discovered what they had done? No, we wouldn’t! So, why should we trust King James decision to make the choices of what was relevant or not.
We still have so much to learn from what is still not revealed and hidden to us (because Jesus had to speak in parables). let us be honest and humble about this fact.
For the first time in history we could enjoy the truth in the totality of the scriptures and eventually become enlightened, if we make the choice to serve the only one, and true master, which is not the ego or psychological identification with our mind (our past and future; in opposition to the now).
I already understand a lot of what the gospel of Thomas is saying, but I please, continue to deliver explanations to how to understand the hidden meanings! (for me, but even for all who are true seekers).
Thank you, your information has been most helpful! Unfortunately, I can’t understand a thing written by Thomas. Attempted commentaries by line or by phrase would help.
What is wrong with you you are not teaching GODs word with your translation you are in sin you are changing the word of the Lord. KJV is the last true translation of the word.. shame on you. This is not the Lord word it is yours and your wrong.
Wow!!! I have found the Kingdom, the real Kingdom. It is already here and available. I can say 100 percent that these teaching come from Jesus Himself because I have figured out the answer to 5 of them, and was able to experience the Kingdom.
There is no sin. We must hate our father and mothers belief systems of slavery and embrace that we r gods. We r the kingdom of heaven. Have ears to hear or remain the same. The well is deeper than we believe. deep is where the purest water comes from.
I believe that “the Gospel of Thomas” is a collection of poetic writings that are Christian-based. I do not believe Thomas wrote this. I believe was someone that was a Christian because some of the lines sound just like little snippets from the canonized Bible. 90% of this “gospel” is just a shorter version of other Scriptures. I think it’s wrong for every that was ever written in the middle east that mentions anything about Jesus Christ that it has to be some kind of mystery or a new revelation. Jesus Christ does live inside of us and around us because of his Holy Spirit that dwells within the believer. A nonbeliever does not have this. I do think that we need to investigate and read other literature that is connecting to Christianity in general. We have to keep literature in its proper context, you can’t just read this and go crazy with what it says. It is very reckless to just read some writing and believe right away it comes from a spiritual source that comes from God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit. “The Gospel of Thomas” was supposedly written about 200 – 400 years after Christ. There are many Gnostic Gospels that don’t ever add up or lined up with anything related to Judeo Christian believe as a canonized biblical text. I believe only the book of Enoch is the closest known Gnostic writings that I believe could be canonized. Finally, if you read the canonized Bible it tells you what Christ was all about every entire point of the canonized Bible was for people to trust that Jesus Christ is there personal Lord and Savior and that if they is ways, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit that will guide you through a world of sin and distraction. The kingdom of God is not on earth. Never was and never will be until Jesus comes back on the day of judgment. So is there a degree of mystical or mysterious teachings within the canonized Bible. My answer would be, yes, there are many mysteries within the belief in Jesus Christ and again he does live inside of you and you will do the work of the kingdom of God by if you look around you can tell this is not what God intended us to live in. I read this for face value and that’s it. I think the beautiful and interesting poetic sayings, it’s okay to read them if your faith is really strong. If you’re a new Christian I would stay away from reading Gnostic writings. But I do believe God is inside us and all around us when we accept him as our personal Lord and Savior. But if you don’t accept that that I don’t know how you could even have Jesus or God remotely inside of you have around your Christian life.
First off to Dena who is metaphorically crazy wrong, and it’s obvious you haven’t read the bible b/ c there is No gospel of Thomas. And the bible clearly states that we are Not to Add or take away from the original text of God’s word. So as these “humans ” said in the first place, it was not canonized. Therefore, it is Not part of the True and living bible. And just so you know Dena, you are in for a Huge surprise when you pass from this world into the next. It is absolutely literal. After you die you will see how literal it is, but then it will be too late.
Hi there,
I read this Gospel and literally found it helpful to know the hidden things in the Bible (refering to the teachings to Thomas). I found a compilation of books in (The lost books of bible). There are so many Gospel and testament in it. Moreover if you read this book of Thomas, you will find most of the teachings in the canonized Bible (the one we use in the modern world). Hence we cannot say that these are not Jesus’s words in this book. Also if you read 2nd Timothy 3:16, it says – “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”. It clearly says that “All Scripture Is Given By Inspiration Of God.
Moreover it does not shake our Faith but gives an insight of the teachings of Jesus in more elaborated way, which is not covered in the Bible.
No significant study has been undertaken on this but given that many Quranic based beliefs match gnostic ideas about the nature of Jesus there are various links between the two. The Nag Hammadi copy of the Thomas text was hidden around 367AD and it would seem unusual if the beliefs it contains did not develop among community’s around Egypt and Arabia in contrast to Roman Christianity and as legend states that Muhammad was taught by his Christian uncle who most likely did not hold to later Christian post Nicene views that therefore the mystical and alternative attribution of the number 114 carried over between the two.
First, I adore the comments by Paul, Dr and Art. I recognize them as Tribe members. 😉
Secondly … to those of you who, like most Christians, are insisting upon taking these, or any scripture, as literal — when they are written as *metaphoric* … thou art off and running in the asinine adventures of wildly missing the point. 😉 How uber-goofy to ascribe literalism to that which was *intended* to be metaphorical.
said: “When you undress without being ashamed and take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample on them, then you will see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid.” (Thom 37:1-3).
Means. That when we are able to drop out natural selves. When we can shed the egos that comes alone with this meat suit of skin without cares like the little children, we will come in touch with the divine that is/was placed in us since the beginning (before you were in the womb I knew you) our spirit selves the you will see that we are all children of GOD.
It seems to be saying that in searching for the truth, you’ll first be dismayed because you realize that the physical body will die. But then you’ll be amazed, because you realize there is another body, that has an image of a body, but yet neither female nor male, which he also refers to as “light”.
This body does not die and you’ll never taste death. This “light” body also can become one with another “light” body.
Coming to this world is like a test, like shoving a sword into the wall before using it.
Those who focus on the afterlife should instead focus on their test here, or they will find the jar empty, and that they missed the whole point.
An enlightened person understands what the sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas mean. An enlightened person is a spiritually alive or awakened person and as such, has direct, personal experience of this wisdom, just as Jesus did. The reason this gospel was rejected was because those who decided which gospels were to be included in the bible did not understand these statements which Jesus reserved for his inner circle. If you’ve been fed spiritual ‘milk’ the whole of your religious life, obviously your stomach will reject the ‘meat’. In other words, you are unable to accept what if not familiar. It is significant that Thomas simply quoted Jesus, leaving the story-telling for the other gospel writers. The Gospel of Thomas is for those only interested in the truth whereas the other gospels are for those less spiritually mature who don’t have ears to hear and eyes to see the truth.
The following link will take you to a place beyond understanding. I present you now with one of the two holy sources of OUR era: the Ra Material. The link which follows is geared in the direction of the present discussion: when Yeshua says “Let him who hath ears hear”, what is being sounded ?
Whether Thomas is more or less authentic than the Bible we surely cannot know, since no videos remain from the first century. Who did what, with what and to whom, we will surely never know and to me it matters not at all. Perhaps if it seems to matter one is looking in the wrong place. Did Shakespeare write Shakespeare? Does it matter? Either way it is truth.
I find Thomas the most charming and insightful Gospel. With wry wit and savage irony, it suggests a wicked sense of humour and intelligence Jesus must have had, in contrast to the sometimes insipid and credulous Jesus of the canon.
The key difference is that whilst both are intended to be read ALLEGORICALLY, the canon contains a narrative purporting to be the life of Jesus. Much of the canon is ‘motherhood’ moral truisms that far pre-date Jesus. For this reason, intuitively, I suspect the canon is actually much more corrupted since it had an an agenda, i.e. to push the divinity of Jesus, (something clearly his family and many others did not believe.) Conversely, Thomas, existed in a time capsule, and is timeless unvarnished, unpretentious truth if read rich metaphorically. It is to the listener that music either sounds moving or not, no music critic can make you like it. Thomas is a book of insightful jokes which ruthlessly reveal truth. They work! If people don’t find a joke funny or sad or moving in some way, either they don’t get the joke or its a poor joke, it does not matter that “the three Irishmen in a pub….” never existed.
All except verse 30. I don’t get it. Please post the answer herein you do!
Doubting Thomas is all im hearing. If your thinking clearly and truly putting Christ first in your life,
you would find these passages helpful to the advancement of your soal into the light.
There will always be some doubt as to the origin of these sayings actually coming directly from Christs’ mouth to our ears. Thomas was the last of Gods followers to admit what He had witnessed was actually the truth the light and the way.
So please cut the man some slack.
Then again I’m a firm believer that Mary Magdalin was Jesus Christs’ most important confidant as he was often seen walking alone with Her while the others followed at a distance.
Lets not forget the hierarchy of the Catholic church denied these sayings of Thomas Gospels’ out right. For me knowing the church rejected these sayings gives them even more power of truth. Remember this: split a piece of wood and Christ is there and lift a stone and he is there as well.
This hole premis undermines the physical church and that means no money for them. If you take away their money their bank fails and all their buildings and churches fail.
If I recall correctly John the Baptist is the most important to Christ and He had no Cathedral to perform His baptisms in. Unless they served wild honey and locusts for dinner and gunnie sacks for clothing. John the Baptist lived and served Christ in the wild which in my mind
Is the true church of the living God.
Peter John
im not a scholar, i am a believer in jesus (yeshua) whoever interpreted name you wish to use. and i dont seek to discredit the fact that someone dug up an artifact. i haven’t read all the Gnostic text but it seems to me that the we have a way of assuming we knew what the writers thought and meant that’s not very healthy to understanding Gods will or historical reality. you could say this writing contains text from the canonized bible so that means the bible must have used these stories in the accepted gospel and so the “Bible” clearly borrowed things, or you can say well were reading pages of text that tell what someone said and did (jesus). and we should realize that just like today things are recorded falsely all the time.. intentionally to discredit people, and in honest mistakes so its easy to jump to one side or the other. (aha his flowers didnt believe jesus was divine!) see its here in this page from the year so and so the bibles wrong!
if you think that you should realize that there were and are millions of people that made those accusations and greatly benefited from them. Jewish priests, did everything including having the romans crucify jesus to prove he was mortal and get him out of there hair.
if you read the apocrypha and question everything you knew. remember if jesus was just a mere man he would have been insane to challenge the authority of the jewish priests and roman governors. a certain death sentence. people rarely do things that arent beneficial to themselves, why get killed for nothing? the romans didn’t even want to kill him he was announced innocent. the crowd urged by the priests condemned him.
so my opinion read everything you can and when things dont match your belief accept that they were written by someone about something for some reason at some point in time and unless its annotated with context i will never truly know the writers intent or validity of the statements. and if i say this means or proves …. its an opinion and opinions are not facts and they shouldn’t be universally accepted or taught as facts…. like say macro Evolution until i see a monkey turn into a dude its still a theory with as many holes as scientist say the bible has. and yes christianity is not a fact but i say its not taught as one. its a belief so idk why people get so worked up over disproving it. if they dont believe it why waste your time looking for evidence to discredit something you “know is false” you know this is turning into a rant lol but it really annoys me when scientist of all subjects dont use the scientific method to process the facts they find and try to use the facts to prove or disprove their own opinion that is un-scholarly and only adds to the growing number of universally accepted theories that cant be proven and are used to create a entirely new set of theories and then call everyone that opposes that theory incompetent or idiots that is how people end up thinking the earth is flat for a thousand years.
Just because we don’t understand something, doesn’t mean it isn’t genuine. No living person can possibly know the truth just from listening to another, yet all religions proclaim to know truth from their written word, written by another. It is written everywhere, and in all faiths, “Seek and you shall find.” There is tremendous, inconcievable wisdom hidden in the Gospel of Thomas, be worthy and it will bestow you. After all, “These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.”
20 Years ago an imminent Baptist theologian told me to read the Nag Hammedi documents. After having attended several seminars and heard scholars of different denominations speak, I saw the Gospel of Thomas is accepted as authoritative by textural scholars of all Judeo-Christian persuasions. It informs the text.
?Re: Robb’s comment about Roman Catholics. “They understand only what they learned – from the “church” as a child.” That is quite a generality. I am 82, and yes I was taught what Catholicism meant as a child (Catholic grammar and high school). As an adult, I continually read, took adult classes (still do), and I am not alone in this.
If the one who comments/reads is Roman Catholic – their comments should be taken with that consideration. They understand only what they learned – from the “church” as a child.
Dr–
I don’t know who u are- but u speak truths and obviously care for all souls… I myself am in the understanding that we are not to leave – not one soul behind…. Whether it is good or if it is lost right now- I’m trying to say evil but do not want to— Instead I’m sticking with lost- because I truely believe it will only take time– and in some cases with individual guidance with multiple lovers of the soul and well- much more time for the totality of whatever type of soul to make it back to our source, our home, our God, our Creator—as none should strive to be good just for the reward of heaven but to actually realize drop the receiving of anything— good is heaven -love is heaven -Love is everything– it is the strive to move- and with constant love and obviously now constant motion– that is what class?— energy….right ….right…..
What is energy- well that is God of course— and somehow we all, not just the current living, but all who has done so through out all time fits in that little energy ball- to which – it is only little to some human eyes but it is the infinite to some others eyes or whatever they call them….I’m sorry to interrupt your group and I hope none has been hurt in anyways from it— but I leave u with this—as a very happy human who has realized “things” / nobody to some and well I hope some day in this time at least I hope to be something good to those in the future or wherever we are to meet—-I will not rest until everyone is home— I will not leave one behind–no one doesn’t make it–I don’t care the time for it is nothing to me somenonday….I love u all no matter who u think you are in this moment –I appreciate the ones who try – and are ultimately good because they know they like it–and most of them know- living by example is contagious, especially in love– for the rest– u are missing out, if your waiting for the boss to say your evil doing is over so the good know what good is—- well—- I just inherited the cosmic whistle key and my name is David—your job is done– now let’s see how good u are at good? Job # 2 – whistle blown— thank you – I know u didn’t like doing those things….Thank you…. The rest I will find wherever u hide-1 by 1 and make sure u see the presapus of feeling maybe he was lost , maybe he was lying , maybe he gave up and see what u almost destroyed with no direction at all…..I don’t pretend to be anyone special, and actually wish for no one to find me—obviously someone special wouldn’t want anyone to hurt not for a milasecond-but as I would not like to see the omg moment of what if he gave up on me- for you soul slammers out there- u need to feel the opposite somehow—I will help you with that- to understand both sides– if u ask me– I believe your getting off too easy/// I feel these souls should be mandated -to work it off in the next convergence , the next life , the next age– but fortunately for u–I don’t believe that’s my decision—oh wait? Who did I just clock out and clock back in?anyways-I’m no longer your ordinary by ignorance– I found this job working hard for a job of love-because that is what eventually I always want to do with my lives- just because I love u– every single last ONE of U—how lucky for you– someone is willing to give up part of their eternity for u—get used to the company.
Brothers and sisters,u will be in tears if u understand the real meaning.i’m not a christian nor sufi muslim but i ‘m blessed to understand the verses and i try to dilute my temptations.u dont have to be a muslim or christian or hindu ect,to be a man of god.u have have to condemn or convert.just be who u r and try to acheive what u came for.love u all.
What the lord said are nothing but truth.each and every words he mentioned are meant for the soul in us.he divided the body /world/mind(all carries same meaning) from the imperisgable soul/father in heaven/son of god.he advised people not to indulge too much into bodily temptation rather seek what is in you(god).
Its similar to sufi islam.afterall the father is same.the father has no names.u can call it allah ,god or kadavul(inside body).all carries the same meaning.
Gospel of tomas carries beautiful messages from the lord that everyone should read and try to understand.forget about the religious names u carry for a while when u read these verses or any other messages from god/messengers/father in heaven(all same)
Father of heaven is in you .seek before your body perish or u will lose the opportunity.
Pls do not condem any beliefs.u will never reach the place u ought to reach.
Its difficult to understand every word as they meant not what u know but what in you.atleast dont condemn.
It’s plain to see that this so called book of Thomas is a pseudepigrapha written by a counterfeit Christian or false representative. I truly believe that the chosen Apostles ie: Thomas and Phillip would not endeavour to write any form of doctrine without the divine intervention of Jesus Christ. The versified passages has no real substance which is contradictory to the original text and divine qualities of the Lord our Saviour. I refuse to believe that Jesus said: “When you undress without being ashamed and take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample on them, then you will see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid.” (Thom 37:1-3). Whosoever wrote this garbage back in Egypt 1945 must be laughing all the way to the bank for doing Satan’s dirty work. You’ll regret it if you’ve convinced yourself that this book is legit or otherwise you’ve got something too hide by doing something corrupt? False Christs, false prophets, they’re everywhere and Jesus Christ saw them coming from a mile away ie: 2000 years ago. If you preach another gospel of Jesus Christ let him be accursed (Gal 1:6-9)
Gospel of our supernatural Father of our souls is known to the people of holy spirit or common sense. I have written a Book; FIRST GNOSTIC PRINCIPLES OF ONE GOD ONE FAITH and here are the details:-
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First know the meaning of the word YeShua and then Christ would be known to you.
Second coming of Jesus was Nanak of the Punjab born in 1469.
Much more in my Book. Over 4700 Youtube Videos; channel nijjhar1 that explain all the Gnostic Gospel. I accept challenges.
If you seek not the whole truth you will find nothing! If you seek the whole truth you will find the kindom of God! If you rebuke or deny my words, you deny my father!
YOU FIGURE IT OUT! IF YOU DOUBT THE WORD that is ypur choice! HERE’S ONE from me! Ye who are dumb asses shall beg for forgiveness when it’s to late! And ye will kiss your asses goodbye. These are the living words of Christ. Remember the Cannon was edited at the council of Nycia by men! Just because these are recent dicoveries does not make them any less valid!
To the preacher who replies to my email.know this man is born inside a ball blind.he been walking through this world for thousands of years blind.what he sees with his eyes is half the information. his mind does not understand their is another half of the information. you have to view the two halves as one.when you live in a dimensional world .you have to view it demensional. their is always something behind or side what you are looking at.what is hidden from you is right in front of you.do you think Jesus just made that up.be a wise person.no preacher in the modern will ever figure out some of jesuses most complicated parables.you will need my help
congratulations to the one who’s with the one who knows at the end.this saying is very interesting. Nobody knows who.hello my name is charlie.my email is [email protected].I am seeking 1preacher on the Gulfcoast of Mississippi.want to use the knowledge I have with the knowledge u have and extract the information from our world.we now have the technology to do this.and put it on paper.its time to save souls.is their 1 preacher out their that wants to save souls.if you had a chance to show the people of the word the knowledge that is hidden from them ..would you invoke the opportunity.the window is closing
WIn 2 become one.the top becomes the bottom–the bottommes the top.you live inside a ball..their is no top no bottom.all trees have knowledge the problem is your mind doesn’t know how to look at them.the information will present itself when you put the 2 together.the gaps in the trees where you see daylite goes with the tree itself.what you have to do is put the 2 together as 1.this is where your mind has a problem.you have to fight your own mind to keep the 2 as1.its called keep seeking.the power to see is not a power but a ability.what you will see is a profile of a person looking down word on a angle Or upwards on a angle.when the inner becomes the outer..means part of the information overlaps the other part.all the information is stuck together.this is why you can’t find what you suppose to see.your mind does not know how to separate the information. When you view your clouds you put the blue the white and the black together. Look for the person on a angle. In time you will find a person in everything you see.everything in your world changes eats itself or something grows on it.example the black that manifest In all your cement is half the information .the actual cement Is the other half of the information.view the 2 as 1.on a daily bases you have a hundred trillion faces looking at you and you can’t see one.your brain does not understand your world.god wrote to you and told you you are born blind.Jesus told you to seek and you will find.but guess what you don’t have to see to believe. Jesus told u this.but I will tell you this if you ever figure out how to see…you can’t give it back.you will have to live the rest of your life with the knowledge. The question is can man handle it.
Their are very few people who can see in our world.the ones who can see can give you the answers to the sayings.but you see in today’s world everyone knows everything so they keep the answers to the sayings to themselves. Have you all ever asked some one for the answers.the reason you can’t see is because you don’t know what you are supposed to see and you don’t know where to look.ask me .
You just have to love all these people who get caught up with Gnostic ideas. The first commentator in this list however, a Dr. Howard, probably has got it right…we really don’t need to consider this sort of material as representing anything serious. Still, it does show what sort of foolishness modern, educated people are capable of believing. Otherwise folks, go study your history. Read the original source documents. Use your common sense and logic.
Finally we have these traditions of the journey through the heavenly halls immortalized in the writings of the Sufi mystical poet Farid ud-din Attar in the “Parliament of the Birds” from the 12th century, in which various species of fowl embark on a pilgrimage to seek the Simorgh, a mythical bird whose antecedence goes back to the Anzu-bird of the Sumerian “Lugalbanda” epic cycles concerning the king of Uruk (Erech, Genesis 10:10) and his encounter in the east with the supernatural:
“Eventually the hoopoe tells the birds that in the quest they have to traverse seven valleys. First of all is the Valley of the Quest, where all kinds of perils threaten, and where the pilgrim must renounce his desires. Then comes the Valley of Love, the limitless area in which the Seeker is completely consumed by a thirst for the Beloved. Love is followed by the Valley of Intuitive Knowledge, in which the heart receives directly the illumination of Truth and an experience of God. In the Valley of Detachment the traveler becomes liberated from desires and dependence …The fifth valley is the Valley of Unification. Now the Seeker understands that what seemed to him to be different things and ideas are, in actuality, only one. In the Valley of Astonishment, the traveler finds bewilderment and also love. He no longer understands knowledge in the same way as formerly. Something, which is called love, replaces it. The seventh and last valley is that of Death. This is where the Seeker understands the mystery, the paradox, of how an individual ‘drop can be merged with an ocean, and still remain meaningful. He has found his ‘place.'” (“The Sufis” by Idries Shah, p.121,123).
Or rather it was the interception of a comet by the spacecraft “Deep Impact” on July 3, 2004. It’s intriguing how the descriptions of the heavens found in “The Riders of the Chariot and Those Who Enter the Heavenly Halls” seem to match the layout of the solar system. The 6th heaven which is known as “Makhon,” contains storehouses of snow and hail and is like the Main Asteroid Belt located between the planets Mars and Jupiter. The 7th heaven which is known as “Arabot,” contains storehouses of snow and is like the Kuiper Belt of asteroids that stretch from the planet Neptune to beyond the planet Pluto.
And so it is like that animated sequence from Pink Floyd’s “Pulse” DVD that accompanies the song “Time” with the universe structured in a system of clocks and like this phenomenon that just appeared on our radar at the edge of the solar system, there was a fly-by of a comet that coincided with the July 2005 “Live 8” benefit concert in London that featured a constellation of stars who were the earlier created “morning stars” who sang together when the the “cornerstone” of the earth was set (Job 38:7), that is the comets which are the basic building blocks of interstellar life.
That was when Pink Floyd was reunited and so it is interesting how we find in ancient Egyptian mythology (The “Dark Side of the Moon” album came with a greenish poster of the Giza Pyramids) that we have from the pyramid of the 6th Dynasty Pharaoh Pepi I a reference to the two gods who were usually at odds with one another but in this older account were actually cooperating to enable the god of the afterlife to ascend from the netherworld to heaven on a ladder, like Jacob’s Ladder (Genesis 28:12, John 1:51). “Stand thou upright, O divine Ladder! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Set! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Horus, whereby Osiris came forth into heaven” (“The Gods of the Egyptians” by A.E. Wallis Budge, vol. 2, p.242).
Correction: Isaiah 40:3; “Level in the wilderness (arabah) a highway (mesalah, not mesabah, which is a standing stone)…”
Perhaps the “Arabot” title’s evolution can be compared to the English word “dune” where you can find wiki entrees online about a dune in a marine ecology or the ambiguous book and film franchise “Dune” on Wikipedia (and Uncyclopedia).
Had it not been for an alert monk who hid the cache of scrolls at Nag Hammadi, the only reference we would have had for the Gospel of Thomas is the mere mention of this book by the church historian Eusebius, along with other books that were edited out of existence.
Before the word “Arabot” became a technical term denoting the 7th heaven of the Jewish mystics, it originally meant “steppe lands” in Psalm 68:5; “Sing to God, chant hymns to His name, extol Him who rides the Arabot.” There seems to be a correlation between the outermost limits of the known civilized world, the vast deserts referred to as “arabot,” and the enormous distance between the outer reaches of our solar system and the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy, the abode of the fixed stars which is mentioned in Ezekiel 1:22 as “the likeness of an expanse like the sparkle of an awe-inspiring crystal, ” which is also happens to be the gnostic “Ogdoad,” or the 8th heaven.
A 2nd century interpretation comes from the Talmud (Chagiga 12b) where the word for “extol” in Psalm 68:5 is “selah,” and which has the meaning “to lift up” as in singing when one lifts their voice, where it is also interpreted to mean highway which is the Hebrew word “mesalah” that is found in Isaiah 40:3; “Level in the wilderness (arabah) a highway (mesabah) for our God.” This was the verse that was applied to the ministry of John the Baptist (Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23) who was likely himself influenced by the Dead Sea sect which possessed writings of the heavenly throne vision.
So instead of “extol Him who rides the Arabot” we have, “Cast up a highway for Him that rides upon the Aravot, His name of Yah.” The divine name “Yah” is an abreviation of “Yahweh” and denotes God’s transcendence with the first 2 letters of YHVH, (YH) symbolizing the realm of the heavenly throne. The rabbis inferred that the “Arabot” of Psalm 68:5 (usually translated as “clouds”) was connected by the word for riding, “rakab,” to another verse from Deuteronomy 33:26; “who rides (rakab) upon the heaven for your help,” and thus did “Arabot” become a singular word denoting the realm of the 7th heaven.
“We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon, and we got to get ourselves back to the garden” (“Woodstock,” written by Joni Mitchell and performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young).
It was during the 1st half of the 2nd century that the mystical movement flourished within Judaism and Christianity centered on the heavenly ascent to God’s throne and the Garden of Eden was invoked as a metaphor that was mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud (Chagiga 14b) in the story of the 4 Rabbis who entered Paradise and these practices were described along with “caution” tape that warned of the dangers to the body as well as the soul, resulting in death or insanity or what some would regard as adopting a heretical belief.
In the 2nd century the Christian book “The Ascension of Isaiah” was composed, based on the Jewish book “The Martyrdom of Isaiah” that described Isaiah’s persecution under King Manassah to which the Christians added an account of the spiritual ascent to the 7 heavens by someone perhaps fortunate enough to have succeeded like the Rabbi in “The Four Who Entered Paradise” who was able to give an account of what was experienced while he was “caught away into paradise and heard unutterable words which it is not lawful for a man to speak” (2 Corinthians 12:4), and elsewhere concerning God’s primordial wisdom that “eye has not seen and ear has not heard” (1 Corinthians 2:7-9), based upon wisdom saying # 17 in the Gospel of Thomas:
“I will give you what no eye has seen, and what no ear has heard, and what no hand has touched, and has not occurred to the human mind.” http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/ntesources/ntarticles/gtj-nt/young-2corascension-gtj.htm
“The Old Man said
‘Friends, Comrades, not for this alone did I begin the word.
An old man like me doesn’t rattle with just a single word.
Human beings are so confused in their minds!
They do not see the way of truth in the Torah.
Torah calls out to them every day, in love,
but they do not want to turn their heads.
Even though I have said that Torah removes a word from her sheath,
is seen for a moment, then quickly hides away –
that is certainly true –
but when she reveals herself from her sheath
and hides herself right away,
she does so for those who know her intimately.'”
From “The Old Man and the Beautiful Maiden,” (“Zohar; The Book of Enlightenment” by Daniel Matt, p.123).
Unfortunately we do not have an Gnostics or their agents available to defend themselves and their purposes. Is their’s the true word? It is so easy to jump upon the band wagon and criticize from early training or conditioning.
“Blessed is the lion that a person will eat and the lion will become human. And anathema is the person whom a lion will eat and the lion become human” (saying # 7).
Good question, Eliezer, and what tremendous import this saying has in light of archaeology since we have an Egyptian pre-dynastic ceremonial knife (like something out of a grainy deleted scene from the film “Dune”) known as the Gebel el Arak Knife with a flint blade and an elaborately carved ivory handle depicting the earliest known representation of the Mesopotamian “mighty hunter” motif (like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord, Genesis 10:9) depicting a man in mortal combat with 2 lions who flank him on either side:
“The scenes carved on its handle are done in the Eastern style of the day. On one face the depiction of the ‘master of animals’ is thoroughly Mesopotamian in costume and design; however, it is the opposite side of the handle that attracts the most attention. In the top two registers men are shown engaged in hand-to-hand combat, employing hands knives, maces, and simple clubs, while below is shown the world’s oldest sea battle” (“Egypt Before the Pharaohs” by Michael A. Hoffman, p.340).
“The boats carrying fighting men and people are seen struggling in the water in a manner that recalls a scene drawn 2,000 years later at the temple-palace of Medinet Habu to commemorate a victory of Ramses III over the ‘people of the seas'” (p.342).
The scenes depicted at Medinet Habu is the backdrop for the Israelite’s avoidance of the Way of the Philistnes and instead went roundabout by the way of the Wilderness of the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 13:17-18) and the circuitous route symbolizes the “Circle of the Earth” in the Egyptian account describing the extent of the Sea Peoples’s migrations as reaching the region of the Black Sea, and described also in Homer’s “Odyssey,” chapter 11, as “the deep-flowing River of Ocean.”
These are ancient cosmological beliefs of the earth being surrounded by an ocean that dates back to earliest times and it is referred to as the “ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:10) where the word for ends is “aphes” which is the mythical “apsu” upon which the earth rested, the abode of the god Ea.
As Egyptian influence declined in the land of Canaan, the kings of Judah adopted the symbols of Egyptian sovereignty patterned after the lion statues (sphinx) and the tribe of Judah is associated with the lion (Genesis 49:9). This would be an example of a man eating a lion and the lion becoming a man and with the growing influence of the Neo-Assyrian Empire is the lion who eats the man and the lion becomes a man, with the Assyrians use of iconography having common affinities with those of the Judahites such as the tree of life motif from Genesis 2:9 which was originally was the date-palm, a symbol of fertility because it had to be artificially pollenized by hand. The date-palm was the sacred tree of the god Ea at Eridu, whose sacred number was 40, as is attested in the frequent use of this number in the wilderness narratives and it was in the late 8th century B.C.E. that the palmette capitals flank the entrances to royal palaces in Judah, influenced by Assyria, and similarly it was under Persian rule that we have the term “pardes” or paradise that originally meant an enclosed park: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/royal-garden-from-israelite-palace-reveals-its-secrets/
The vetting process of the Christians that put together the Word of God, disproved enough of Thomas to discard it. Be very careful what one picks and chooses. Don’t study this unless for research, for you are fooling with Satan, the ultimate deceiver. <
After going to the web page “Ask the Rabbi,” another definition for the Aramaic and Hebrew word “arabah” is the willow tree (Leviticus 23:40; “poplars of the torrent valley”) which was used in the Festival of Succot”, or Tabernacles (John 7:2) along with fragrant branches numbering 7 booths for 7 days.
I’m inclined to believe that the scenario of the Israelite’s departure from Elath takes place within the period in the late 8th cenury B.C.E. with acquisition of this port by the Edomites with the help of the Arameans at Damascus (2 Kings 16:6) when the Judahite king Ahaz sent tribute to Tiglath-pileser his new ally upon which time the bronze bulls were scrapped and the bronze sea was lowered a level to the ground in front of the temple, to which the seer responded in the name of the Lord, “these people have scorned the waters of Shiloah that flow along gently…” (Isaiah 8:6). King Ahaz also used the priest Uriah (2 Kings 16:15) to introduce changes in the established cultic tradition in conformity with Judah’s status as a vassal of Assyria, and substituted an altar that resembled a ziggarat temple-tower, to which came the response that it is the Lord who is holy (kodesh) and who must become a sanctuary (mikadesh) (Isaiah 8:13).
For more on the discussion regarding an 8th century B.C.E. providence for some of the biblical wilderness narratives: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/exodus/video-the-wilderness-itineraries-who-how-and-when-did-biblical-author-know-about-the-southern-deserts/
I incorrectly said Timnah the Philistine city instead of Timna the copper mine near Ezion-geber on the Gulf of Eliat where the ancient Israelites left their camp to travel to Kadesh (Numbers 33:36) in the Wilderness of Zin where Miriam the prophetess died (Numbers 20:1). Elsewhere it gets more specific by mentioning, “the way of Arabah, from Elath and from Ezion-geber” (Deuteronomy 2:8). Until the discovery of the Egyptian temple of Hathor at Timna we were unable to identify Miriam and her tambourine with the goddess Hathor and her sistrum, or the connection between the place name Kadesh and the Canaanite goddess Qadesh, whom the Egyptians incorporated into their pantheon under Ramsess II. Hathor was portrayed as a cow covered with little crosses representing stars as she was referred to as the Heavenly Cow. So it’s interesting how side by side with the Gnostics was the Jewish mystical speculation concerning the ascent to God’s throne in the book of Ezekiel:
“Scholem observes that the period in which these Gnostic speculations and ascents took place extended over almost a thousand years, from the first century B.C.E., to the tenth century C.E.” (“The Shocken Book of Jewish Mystical Testimonies” by Louis Jacobs, p.35).
Among the finds in a cache of document discovered in the Cairo Genizah was a mystical treatise entitled “The Riders of the Chariot and Those Who Entered the Heavenly Halls,” that was composed in the 4th or 5th century and which describes the mystical ascent through the 7 heavens and the 6th heaven is called “Arabot” which is plural for “arabah,” meaning “desert-plain, steppe,” and it is the geographical term applied to the depression between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Eliat; “the way of Arabah” (Deuteronomy 2:8). According to this treatise the name of the mystical chariot in heaven Arabot is named “Cloud” that is derived from the verse; “The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rides upon a swift cloud…” (Isaiah 19:1), and it likely refers to the non-native storm god arriving amid the local gods of Egypt, or (in my personal opinion) the takeover of the Timna sanctuary by Arabs who replace the pillars resembling the cow-eared goddess with a row of pillars arrayed like the tent poles at the entrance of the Israelites tent of meeting, since it is thought that Yahweh originated as an Arabian storm god. So the Midianite and Israelite copper serpents are significant in that the city of the scribal god Thoth was Hermopolis, and in the nearby necropolis of Deir el-Bersha numerous coffin texts were found that indicate that the collection of books at Hermopolis gave rise to a literary genre of space travel in the afterlife exemplified by “The Book of the Two Ways,” in which the deceased passed through 7 zones not unlike way stations for travelers:
“At one time these forts, or strongholds, or ‘gates,’ were thought to be seven in number … The seven forts that formed a chain across Dead-land were called ‘Arits,’ a word which is often translated ‘Mansions,’ or ‘Halls’ … This arrangement is identical with that which has been common in all parts of Africa from time immemorial in respect of the forts that are built at the entrances to towns and villages” (“The Book of the Dead” by A.E. Wallis Budge, Gramercy Books, p.269).
We live in a world, in general, that spurns and disparages any religious viewpoint that vilifies matter. The view of the ancient gnostics, the ancient Pythagoreans and, to a large extent, Plato and his school, and later Plotinus, are all centrally concerned with the degradation of spirit by degrees lower and lower–to pure death, that is, matter–rather than the living spirit.
Most liberals in the US (on the two coasts at least) profess that if they had any religion it would surely be Buddhism. Interesting, since like the ancients, in the Buddhist mahajana view matter considered in itself is mere delusion. Or rather it is emptiness just as emptiness is it.
Must we I wonder dismiss a perennial spiritualist philosophy taking different forms in antiquity and in the present that constitute that closest literate example that we have to a perennial philosophy, dismissing it with contempt and without even the need to hold conversation on the subject? We all of us make assumptions without knowing they are only assumptions, can it be that we can examine these assumptions without attempting to violently impose them without discussion? I ask this as a plea, not a demand.
From what I understand the gnostic gospels are not considered credible because for one, their authorship is in question…Just about every book carries the name of a New Testament character: The Gospel of Phillip, The Gospel of Mary, The Gospel of Peter, The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Judas, etc. However, they are dated about 110-300 years after Christ and no credible scholar believes any of them could have been written by their namesake.
Also, the Gnostic gospels are not historical accounts of Jesus’ life as seen in the gospels in the New Testament, but instead are mostly esoteric statements, leaving out historical details such as names, places, events. Thus, they lack reliability because of their late dating, questionable authorship, lack of historical data, and contradictions to other scriptural writings held to a higher standard. When in doubt, throw it out.
See link below http://y-jesus.com/gnostic_gospels.php?gclid=CJbhg8Tb6poCFRIcawodwmIJBg
Paul was a gnostic and so was the author of the Gospel of John who makes reference to the bronze serpent (John 3:14), the one that Moses made as an anecdote to the bites of creatures referred as “seraphim” or “burning ones,” that are portrayed in Milton’s “Paradise Lost” as a category of infernal spirits who inhabit Hell an have a serpentine form. We now know that the Midianites had a bronze serpent at the site of the sanctuary at Timnah, so this is an Israelite version of the Egyptian cobra god Thoth, god of writing.
It is refreshing to hear Pope Francis admit that he hasn’t watched television in a quarter century, which is what the Gospel of Thomas means in the 27th saying:
“If you do not abstain from the world, you will not find the kingdom.”
But then we watched “A.D.; The Bible Continues,” and there was the apostle Thomas wanting to verify that it was Jesus who had risen, and thus the emphasis in this gospel on an individual’s self-discovery by not just being content with what people tell you. Then in the last segment Thomas asked, “No apocalypse?” after the prophecy of Daniel concerning the abomination that causes desolation did not happen. Which is why I conclude that Thomas was the inspiration behind these wisdom sayings since it is in “The Acts of Thomas,” which begins with the apostles being assigned to regions of the world to spread the gospel which was apportioned by lot (like the 12 bronze oxen arrayed outward toward the ends of the earth while supporting a bronze representation of the primordial sea, the abode of the Sumerian god Ea, lord of wisdom, in 1 Kings 7:23-25), and who journeys east to India, where it is thought by some people to be the origin of “the black-headed people” mentioned in ancient texts who were the early inhabitants of the land of Sumer.
Many actual Christians, refuse the catolic councils, because was a certification of the “Apostasy”, but do not refuse the canon approved by one catholic council… No one revise all another writings… And run afraid of the Gnostics… when the reality is that at the time of Saulos, he was proto gnostic… and all the gospels was written with this directives.
I think that many of the teachings of the new testament are Gnostic, if you see the beginning, Yeshua was a Hebrew. How we can now call the Gospel of Tomas, as gnostic. No one of the Saulo writings (the base of the christianism) are a pure Hebrew teach… I believe that the Gospel of Tomas give us information about Yeshua and his greek and judaic roots.
This is somebody ‘s interpretation who supports Christianity and likes to discredit Judaism. As a whole, the sayings are in the New Testament! A person that speaks Hebrew, can see, that many of the sayings were manipulated to make Jesus seem like he was anti -Semitic! The New Testament is full of lies! You Christians don’t even keep the Ten Commendments!
Erika
Hi Erika.
I am a lover of Jews and of Israel. Did you refer to Sabbath keeping when you said that Christains do not keep the Ten Commandments? I would love to know to apply your comment to my life and to change. Please take a moment to reply. I truly value your reply.
You can start by believing in the ONE invisible, and indivisble God of Israel, just as Jesus taught in MK 12:28ff. Everything else as a christian is irrelevent if you do not believe in the MOST IMPORTANT COMMANDMENT IN THE WORLD.
In December 1945, near Nag Hammadi, in Upper Egypt, peasants chanced upon 13 papyrus manuscripts containing 52 texts. These fourth-century documents have been attributed to a religious and philosophical movement called Gnosticism. Mixing elements of mysticism, paganism, Greek philosophy, Judaism, and Christianity, the movement was a contaminating influence on some professed Christians.—1 Timothy 6:20, 21.
The “Gospel of Thomas,” the “Gospel of Philip,” and the “Gospel of Truth,” found in the “Nag Hammadi Library,” present various mystic Gnostic ideas as if coming from Jesus. The recently discovered “Gospel of Judas” is also counted among the Gnostic gospels. It portrays Judas in a positive light as the only apostle who really understood who Jesus was. One expert on this gospel notes that it describes Jesus as “a teacher and revealer of wisdom and knowledge, not a savior who dies for the sins of the world.” The inspired Gospels teach that Jesus did die as a sacrifice for sins of the world. (Matthew 20:28; 26:28; 1 John 2:1, 2) Clearly, the Gnostic gospels are intended to undermine, rather than strengthen, faith in the Bible.—Acts 20:30. http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200270408
I can easily see we do NOT need the so called Gospel? of Thomas! It does show that the writer/s were familiar with some of the true sayings of Jesus as found in our canonical scriptures as promised by Jesus who said, ‘heaven and earth will pass away [Revelation 20;ll Peter3:9-13 ] but my words shall never pass away.’ Many of these writings are foolish make no real sense as if someone thought they were ‘inspired.’ This lacks real authenticity to say the least.to clearly says not to” add” to the Word and someone thought that didn’t apply to them.Fasle teachers and prophets were predicted by the NT writers. This book is just another “…cunningly devised fable” as predicted by Peter.
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There is sharp disagreement among scholars about the authenticity of the Gospel of Thomas. Those who argue in favour of its authenticity believe it is an early writing that represents early Christian thought, drawing on early oral tradition. Among those who believe the Gospel of Thomas is authentic, some argue that there are parallels with the hyothetical Q source, while another argues it is autonomous rather than dependent on the canonical Gospels. Others argue that the Gospel of Thomas was written in response to the Gospel of John.
Those who reject the authenticity of the Gospel of Thomas argue that it is a second century or later document that is connected to the start of the gnostic movement of the second century. It is difficult to accept that it is an early writing when Thomas quotes or alludes to more than half of the New Testament writings. One argues that the author of the Gospel of Thomas knew and used Tatian’s Diatessaron that was written around AD 170. Also evident in the Gospel of Thomas is late traditions distinctive to Eastern, Syrian Christianity in the second century, with one scholar dating Thomas no earlier than the last quarter of the second century. Some scholars suggest there is not biblical parallel at all, because of the significant difference in the disciples’ reaction to who Jesus is compared to the canonical Gospels.
I can see the religious feathers are really being ruffled just as they were in the day of Yeshua. People are stuck in their dogma and cannot break out of these prisons of their mind that have been built by those who have desired to control us through establishments. It will be interesting to see what the 711 books that were buried in the tunnel between the Vatican and Israel have to say. And why would such books and manuscripts be hidden away? Isn’t it interesting they gave us 66 books and kept 711 for themselves. Let’s add those two numbers and what do we get ?777 very interesting isn’t it?Would it be because there’s so much truth that could really upset the apple cart? I believe mankind is much more powerful than we have ever realized because the God that created heaven and earth created man in His image and likeness lives within us. Did not Yeshua say the kingdom of God is within you? Don’t you know that you are god’s? Well who’s living like a god? Who’s loving like a god? Some real food for thought. All the church can do is judge, judge, judge. If a person isn’t just like you, doing just what you do, believing just what you believe, they’re outcast. Is that what Yeshua came to teach us? Time to take a real good look at one’s self! The church declares it is spiritual and yet they do absolutely nothing spiritual. It will all come out in the wash because we are in the Great revelation – the great revealing -all that has been hidden away is now being revealed. And if the kingdom is within then shouldn’t there be a little more emphasis and focus on the heart rather than the intellect of the mind? And where was Yeshua from the time we last hear of him in the New testament as a young man for some 20 years before he came out into his ministry? where was he? Could he have been learning some things that we have convinced ourselves are not Christian and don’t fit in with our beloved holier than thou dogma. And if your “religion” serves you well then stay there. Some just don’t have a thirst and are satisfied with the status quo. It never served me and I had to move on to find out more Truth for myself. I was tired of hearing the same old, same old messages refurbished and renovated with a new joke or two here and there. I had to move on and do my own deep dive searching and now that I have found more truth I am a happier, more peaceful,more loving and a more fulfilled individual. I’ve been able to overcome things that the church never helped me to overcome. I guess the fruit is what I was looking for and I have definitely found it. I wish everyone well on their journey and search for their own truth. We will all one day answer the question did we learn to love while we were here? Blessings
It is very true what you say. Whether there are 711 extras or not. Original scripture fills the soul and is enough for the lifetime and to accomplish the greatest of works in “Faith”
I say because it is happening, I am being intruded apron by theElohiem.
And hopefully We are casting a large mill stone into the sea.
Surly people can appreciate to hear and see? Other perceptions
Of the true nature of the spirit vs. the flesh… to truly trace history is to understand in this matter a few or narrow key points…
Jesus came to show the spiritual nature of our interpretation Of law and prophets.. Jesus came to condemn the physical church of man… the true disciple went underground and surrounded Egypt as prophesied… the narrative of Pauline doctrine was excepted by Roman occupation… as the say “ when in Rome do what the Romans due “… yet Joshua said this .. as for me and my house we will serve the lord… I’ll give a hint to students only
Trace the wars of then and now and ask yourself this can true motives ever be excepted in this place? What happened then is happening now at its completion… I’m so happy God almighty has allowed truth not to be wiped out? It is to our benefit to study from a spiritual standpoint.. it is to our spiritual benefits to understand the mystic nature is only saying this.. it’s more to life then meets the naked eyes…it’s more to the true creator and the physical interpretations then meets the naked eyes.. and what’s blinded our naked lack of understanding..was things added and taken away ? 6 is incompleteness 66 is the total of the canonical a scripture add man’s number as 6.. now you have total incompleteness my favorite book is the lost sayings of the Christ ..yet I’ll say reading between all its lines is the correct approach..
One of the Early Church Fathers wrote “Heretics have many Gospels, the Church has only 4. These pseudo gospels have in common that they draw only what they want from the 4 canonical Gospels, and add anything else
that suits their beliefs, They were all written one or two centuries after Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Drew, that is a highly contested position, which many including myself don’t think can be substantiated. Scholarly consensus would place it 2nd half of the 2nd century.
To those concerned about the lion and the man. In shorthand, the “lion” is the third chakra and the third chakra relates to our way of being in the world. So, the lion who has eaten the man is the case of a person being run by the world around him/her. The man eating the lion is the person who has more of his soul in relating to the world around.
Now if you have read the plaidians message..and you have stood firmly upon the cornerstone.
You will understand. The differences..of those whom..teach..that father be a source..yet they know not..
That we be in a relationship..with father as sons and daughters..
They teach great things..which are already apart of you..
You may wish for them to step in..but i expect..you will be gladly know whom you have already requested to enter..by knocking..
But there are indeed more..
So hold on to the spirit..which you have.
Or more will enter..and youll be worse off
than you were..
DNA..growth..to a higher realm..
So then see. Why you already know..
Yet they do not speak of father..but say source..
So who is thier father..that they would not say..
And see what a ..step in.. does..
So your gift is flesh..and life and truth..
And spirit granted..grants..this truth.
….
Because there are those around you that never die…and their really really smart…
Like divine matrix smart..
So why dont they say father..
Yeah..for I recognize that voice and sound ….it is the anointed one…it look like it was coming within words spoken by me ..long time ago….it has no different form by soul food….
If i could leave you a gift..which reflects our truth..and also which reflects every word of christ..
It may touch your heart to know this truth..and if you understand why we struggle so much in this reality..
Please seek the
Pleiadian message..
And i hope it sits well upon your
Heart.
Sometimes is good to read
That which you
Already know.
…
And who we are.
From the inside out.
It was very painful when I was going through my trials which was reliving the many murders and deaths I where he kept death from gripping me that first started as nightmares while asleep. Then I started reliving them still awake and I wrestled with God not to accept that many times being Crussified again at mankind’s hands! The still unaccepting my Identity he put the sons of then world upon my body. I cried in deep sorrow uncontrollably for an entire day. I finally fell asleep and it took 3 days to be able to again get out of my bed and stand
It was if men had beaten me with fists from head to toe and finally returned to my feet! Even after all that I found my self saying to him” Really if I do that I will be killed” but I did as he willed me to do! Then uh e would instruct me to physically do his binding
Again his will be done! Then his lesson come to conclusion and I would say Wow! Or That was way to cool! Then that become the Bang you just got hit right between TT he eyes with a snowball. Later it is call a revelation!
For the child is born from spirit and into flesh..which comes from spirit..
And yet there is only spirit..
For the gift of flesh..of life..
Depends upon love..and not one thing
Is seperate..from this..
Yet sadly..if you do not feed the child the child will not get to live ..and father is with the living..
Yet the child may be born again..the
Reserection..
Its christmas today..
Upon this day some celibrate..the birth of our savour to whom the crown was given and whom is also granted. To give the proof. Of the truth of our heavenly father..as well as..to know my father as i have known father..
And as father is a spirit force..which is of all the attributes..of his spirit of truth..
..
Which reflects our divine being. And then so to . will the things of this truth be shown..to you..
And of that which you can ask a baby..of seven days..
Surley from such a miracle. Does this child..carry the attrubutes of its divine existence..as well as ..now please hear this. And understand..for the child depends..on those around. Whom nurture
And care with love..as this is granted to you. As a gift..from your father..for
Its christmas..
On this day a child was born..
Its christmas today..
Upon this day some celibrate..the birth of our savour to whom the crown was given and whom is also granted. To give the proof. Of the truth of our heavenly father..as well as..to know my father as i have known father..
And as father is a spirit force..which is of all the attributes..of his spirit of truth..
..
Which reflects our divine being. And then so to . will the things of this truth be shown..to you..
And of that which you can ask a baby..of seven days..
Surley from such a miracle. Does this child..carry the attrubutes of its divine existence..as well as ..now please hear this. And understand..for the child depends..on those around. Whom nurture
And care with love..as this is granted to you. As a gift..from your father..for
Its christmas..
There for . with every faith..jesus is given authority over all of them..
For as much as we believe. By any faith
So too is it that indeed. Still we must realize the holy spirit is gods spirit..
And it resides in you..
There is nothing to fear..for it has been with you. From the beginning..less you be
Of another belief..and for sure..where
Fear and trembling..must be conquiered.
But too. Surely
As the measure of a angel is the measure of a man..i measure that of this angel..within as to be only love and it fits perfectly. With all of fathers attributes..
And then. The cock crows and the tree bows and the dog comes..
So who then is that angel..
Though i mean not to take..
That of naravana or heaven..or that of the pillars of enlightenment away..
As you are at and indeed in levels of such a journey..
Yet there be fires..cast..
After all..
He gives us.
This Grace..to know him.
And where he resides..
Even though…yet he rises him.
And i bow at both his grace
And wisdom..
And cry tears for Mary
And bleed for Christ..
Just as my father does.
As man kind..didnt realise..when we die
We really dont..
And as sons of man. We therefore had no place to lay our heads. . so this light from within..grants us this knowledged..
And then being sons of god..
We dont die. Were celestial beings.
..
But being as such. Jesus also showed us
Its dangerous to teach another faith..and
Perhaps. Theyll kill you.
So that also being said..
Let the holy man still be holy and let the righteous man be righteous..
And …
Therefore.
Becareful. Out there..
But its sure is good to see Thomas writtings..and so many of you are so inlightened..im so pleased..
And though i see alot of negativity aswell
Im glad you made it to here..you are seeking..and thats cool..
And these monkey suits..are really just for now..and hold on..
Theres going to be a day..
Back to the garden in paridice..and we will all know where to lay our heads.
It just takes time..but light travels pretty fast..
And if you think about it..we live here for such a small period of time..and father has had eternty to think about what he is doing..and if we found the answer in just a short time..will be alright and so will your brother and sisters..So really
How smart do you think father is..
So dont worry…
And for now i reach with my hands .to give aid..to the needy..and i serve all fathers children..
Just as he serves us..
So I send my love..and fill his heart..
Sometime i cry.
To answer ART..verse 30
Well irishmen in the pub . really dont care.
…but many faiths…have many Gods.
Christians have.. i am..
Or Abba
At least i hope they understand that
And where two become one.
Which is the reality..of our existence.
One spirit one person.
Father being..the one within.
I am there.
In that of profetic..doctrine..
And that he has a fire to light..
If then i stood before the mighty dragon..
I would of had no chance at all
With out him..
And he writes..
What if it were already kindled..or more so he wished it was already kindled.
Sometimes we have no idea of the heavenly rules..
But who sent him..was not the dragon.
If you have Christ living inside of you, you have been resurrected and can easily understand these sayings. Do you think it easy to find the Kingdom? Only if you fast from the world and seek it with your whole being will you find it.
NUMBER 22 IN THE SAYINGS–IT IS A PARABLE–THE MISSING KEY—WHEN YOU APPLY THIS PARABLE TO YOUR WORLD–THE KNOWLEDGE WILL APPEAR–YOU WILL FIND A IMAGE OF A PERSON IN EVERYTHING–BUT ONE IMAGE MAY BE A PART OF ANOTHER IMAGE–THIS IS WHY U CANT SEE IT–FOLLOW THE SEPARATION POINTS—YOU ARE BORN BLIND–SEE WHAT IS IN FRONT OF YOU–AT FIRST YOU WILL BE DISTURBED–THEN YOU WILL MARVEL
The gnostic interests make this gospel less credible… believers should be very careful. There were other pseudo gospels around as The Way was spreading. Paul warns the believers to be wary of false gospels and so should we.
The difference is that all those who identify themselves as experiencing Christ in the now, know the truth of what they see, and they say that Thomas told the truth. However for some reason those who do not identify themselves as experiencing Christ in the now, seem to imagine that the humble follower to take the place of Jesus should be Peter and his Roman palace, rather than the obscure and unknown Justin the Just. It does not seem like it should confuse, yet the people of the world always love the opposite of the truth.
I think that the big problem with the Gospel of Thomas is that it suggests that we can be saved through knowing something rather than through faith in Jesus. I would not recommend it to someone who has faith in Jesus but to the atheists, agnostics, scientists (who may overlap) it may be very helpful. I was a science loving atheist. Thomas’s gospel helps me to see how Jesus’s message could be true and makes me want to have faith in him. How do we make the two become one?
The message is definitely that we can be “saved by knowing something”. The only faith we need in Jesus is the faith to know that what he says is true!
No one is going to die! We merely misunderstand the nature of our existence.
The “two becoming one” does not mean a man and woman becoming one by marriage but by the spirit entering into the newly born baby to become a single, conscious and sentient human being.
Although the body will die in due course, when it does, the spirit will pass back into the home world to continue it’s existence.
Jesus Said: “Even though you die, yet shall you live!”
One reason the Gospel of Thomas did not make it into the Bible was because the resurrection was preferred by the composers of the Bible rather than the Transmigration of the Soul concept, which was a well accepted principle in Jesus’ time
He says that we all start in Heaven by being born into the “new world” which is all around us and when we die, the spirit returns there.
Thomas 18: The disciples asked Jesus when their end would be and he replied:
Have you therefore discovered the beginning? For where the beginning is, there will be the end. Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning.: He will know the end and will not experience death
These sayings are illogically put together. Reading them is dissonance at its worst. I appreciate the fact that these are recovered texts, but they are antithetical to the canonical Gospels…
It seems to me they are from a drunkard who wished in a moment of sobriety he were a disciple of Jesus the Christ… May be he had the opportunity, like Nicodemus, but rejected it for the cares of the world…
May God grant solace to this lost soul!
Perhaps the people of the world have difficulty in seeing the truth. One would imagine that the entire purpose of Christ coming to show people the way would be a clue that they had difficulty seeing the truth, or he would not have needed to come, but these are the kinds of details that pass straight over your head when you spend too long wondering about what lovely things can be eaten for dinner, or if there is anything good on the telly. Rather than judging the words based upon their dissonance with the Roman Government’s approved first century truncated edit, perhaps contemplation, and logic would be better tools than faith, just in this one instance.
Remove the logs from your eyes pastor and you will see the truth. I and my Father are one. And know this. Your physical body is the Soul. The spirit returns to the Father who gave it. We’re but vessels that contain that spirit of consciousness.
There is more to the story of Nicodemus than his appointment with Jesus at night. He was at the cross, he was at the tomb–the rest is yet to be learned.
Hi there. My understanding is that the Gospel of Thomas has a large chunk of the sayings, roughly half of it, that are present in the four canonical gospels of the new testament. If so, it would have been helpful if these texts above were highlighted so that readers could compare the writings to the canonized writings of the Bible. Will it be possible if someone could point out these sayings, I’d really appreciate any form of help, thanks.
(2) And anathema is the person whom a lion will eat and the lion will become human.”
– IS THIS WHAT YOU MEAN IS AN ALIEN?? WHY SHOULD WE WORSHIP THAT CREATURE?? GOD MADE ME ACCORDING TO HIS IMAGE I SHOULD WORSHIP “JESUS CHRIST”!! IT’S TUME FOR YOU TO WAKE UP TO TGE TRUTH!! THE CREATOR OF THE HEAVENS AND EARTH IS OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.FOR YOUR INFORMATION YOU BETTER READ A LOT ABOUT BIBLE AND UNDERSTAND AND ANALYZE WHAT GOD SAY’S TO US!! HE’S COMING SOON! AND YOU MUST PREPARE YOURSELF!!
Most things have multiple meanings. What I gained from this, is that when one eats another creature, one takes on something of its essence. So if you eat beef you become more docile and unenlightened. If you eat pork you become greedier. I considered this passage might be related to that phenomenon, in that if you were to eat a Lion, you would take on some of the character of the Lion, and the Lion likewise would take on some of the character of whatever it ate. The effect is clearly more pronounced to those who are sensitive to it, and especially at times of high energy such as now. Those of you in this mind state should be cautious. Eating little is the best. Digestion in general does not seem comfortable for me. We have been too well trained for consumption as an economic driver.
It is egyptian symbology. Having the lion (sechmeth) as a head (being on top) means power out of control. Having a human head means power in an intelligent and cortolled manner. The sphinx is a symbol for that. Got that impulse by the documetary “Die Rätsel der Sphinx Doku über die Sphinx Teil 3” (sry, german)
In the Bible you will find a lot of macroeconomics, systems theory and conceptualisation, psychoanalysis, astronomy, calendars and so on. Who has jet not known that Jesus, “walking” over the water, is actually the sun? If so, watch Zeitgeist the Movie (fist episode). In other context one could understand God, the creator of (our presonal) world, as actually being the mind, reconstructing reality from our senses (this realness, each of us with our individual one, is pure mind, illusion, maya, thoughts, numbers – whatever you want to call it, and is as different from actual reality as a map is from the landscape). Lucifer being the intellect and Jesus, the son of God, is actually consciousness, emerging from an increasingly complex self-organised system (mind, God). Satan, the fallen angel, the subconcious mind, the “it” needing lucifer to come into existance, since it takes a conscious intention to harm someone, to do something truly evil (satanic).
When it comes to religion, basically think of what were the most profound needs for human civilisation? Calendar (astronomical observations), creating a stable society based on the division of labour, wealth distribution and in particular money. Every aspect you’ll find allegorically paraphrased and of course a lot of mental manipulation and creation of unspecific fear as a central instrument of power of all times. Just look for the parallels of today capitalism and catholizism. Both need the concepts of guilt and atonement as a bases ( nowaday you would call it credit and debt). Same mechanics, same thing basically. The world of God is our imagination. Ofcourse christianity assimilated alot of different cults and ritualized knowledge. So it inclueds alot of pilisopic conctes and rites ofer a wide period of time, at least since gilgamesh.
Religion has not nesessarily to be beliefed to work. Its allegorical, sybmolical concepts bypass the conciousness and acts directly upon the subconcious. Just like what one would describe as “predictive programming” nowadays. Your mind gets intruduced to certain concepts, like that of the master and servant, or guil and atonement. There are good and bad things with that. Bsically religion is a absolute need. But it can be used to manipulate the sheeple. Best example might be the movie “Clockwork Orange” from Kubrick. In the worst case everyone, even the Pharisees, forget about the true meaning (which is pure rational yet abstract) and start to understand it literally (See this gosphel nr. 39).
The exodus of the Israelites is, I think, rather the transition from primitive socialism (Egypt) to the gold-based monetary system. Much of the Torah deals with economic issues, such as bankruptcy law. Creation of the world could at different plasces also be understood the transition from hunter ander gatherers to a society based on the division of labour, whose mechanisms were devised by the mind (God). Jet all have failed till today (still not the right messia – system conceptuation).
Wish you all the best, stay concious and may god and in particular jesus be always with you.
There are two manuscripts of this gospel and they are not the same. This one from the Nag Hammadi manuscript is not as old as the Coptic version. The Copic was has not all survived. This one has sayings that seem to go against the main focus of Jesus teaching, to love one’s neighbour as one selves. It also seems to have some gnostic interests.
I would not be to quick to say that those are the true words if Jesus.
Jesus was not just born as an enlightened teacher. He had to grow and become who he was. Thomas was with him during the time when he was still becoming complete. His words are true, but they show things that cannot be seen in the cleaned up for public consumption and publishing version. Never expect the notes of a writer to be the same high quality as the state approved published version.
As the inner light grows to full strength, it bursts out beyond the limits of the physical body. Once it is fully integrated with the energy that is outside the physical body, the inner body of light becomes part of all. Then the body itself is more like a faucet, than a permanent residence. The body will be better preserved, but when it does go, it makes no difference to the light.
Intellectual death from the new, sophisticated manipulation system (guiltiness cult), propably introduced by the romans or ethen the jews, to escape the violence and fear-based system of the Romans and to create a mental escape from this spiritual prison. Maybe also monetray death. Not sure which is more proper.
Just look at the dozens of correlations to astronomy. The sun, having 3 days the same hight over the horizon around christmas before it starts to travel back to the equator (rebirth afer 3 days and triumph over the night – the evil). The exact same plot of jesus birth and the virgin was alredy present in egypt (Moses) and so many others. Jesus, walking over the water…come on…it’s the sun! The gods get humanised, just as in egypt with The cross with the circle in the middle. its the circle of the zodiac, with the axis being the noth and south turning circles as well as the equator and the sun in the middle.
Jesus was most probyply a genious guy, when reading these texts i think also autistic. He might had a lot insight and unerstanding of psycology and the inner workings of mind as well as politcs and econimics. Most probably he was not a single guy. Maybe something like Attack today. The romans used a trick, disqualifing hin from a genious, potential revoluzer, to a miracle-working magical uncle. You would call that framing or poisening the fountain today. A psycological trick, not done for the first time, to discredid opposition.
Modern, post 17th Century interpretations of thr 1611 KJV Bible is in itself a dangerous platform of “interpretation-s. The Holy Bible has been reduced to skim milk by too many splitting hairs of every word of God and Jesus. To fit so called modern societies. Be aware of how you can stray . What applies in 30 AD applies just as well for all times.
“Lord, there are many around the well, but there is nothing in the .”
should be
“Lord, there are many standing around the well, but there is no one inside the well”
the way you translate it, the second part of the logion doesn’t correlate with the first properly. the word nothing isn’t quite right. the translation I’ve heard is “lord there are many standing about the well, but no one… IN the well.” I understand the meaning of that. The awareness of the kingdom here and now and that a part of you deep within is that. It’s tat tvam asi. It’s he you has seen me has seen the father. get with now. get IN the well. Don’t stand about waiting for it, thinking it’s some goodie at the end of the line. It’s always here. Eternal. okay I’m done
Thank you. That is a good interpretation. The one I had taken is that one must be empty in order to find the centre so that you could become filled with God. Jesus said many things which could be taken by many people in many different ways. Perfect expression. We hear what we are supposed to. I am glad I was supposed to also be helped by you.
Verse 55, without the context of verse 101, can be easily misinterpreted to hate your father and mother to become a disciple of jesus !!! but then throughout the Gospel – it is promoted that we turn 2 into 1 and not further separate from each other. Is this not a contradiction on the highest level?
You would have to have some fascinating misconceptions about 1st century Galilee to reach that particular conclusion. I suppose if transgender operations remained popular long enough that 0AD and 2020AD were hard to tell apart, then it might lead to that conclusion, but if they have been fashionable for that long, I doubt it will create any existential conflicts for anyone. They will clearly not be the same type of being as we are.
I really enjoyed the reading and most of it I will try to adhere to. The lost words are still lost too many and the Bible was written in such a fashion as not to take away or add to. I just wish I could read it in the language it was written in. that would be so enlightening. Thanks for the publishing of this old text as it will no doubt add to my walk with God.
The Bible was not written in such a fashion that nothing could be added or taken away. It was originally far greater than four gospels, but they chose four for its significance. The four corners. So as to strengthen it. Therefore they kept the gospels that were deemed most appropriate to see that God’s work, Jesus great work, would come to fruition. It is a bit Machiavellian, but it was originally written as an exercise in neurolinguistic programming. So the translation from Latin to English has damaged its efficacy far more than adding in any of the lost gospels or additional sources ever could have done. Having said that, I am not entirely sure I would trust a Bible that was not in Coptic. Seems a bit suspicious if it is in Latin. It is a bit like if all future accounts of Donald Trump’s views on the covid virus were all the Chinese versions. You’d have to wonder if perhaps an English language version might not be more generous.
Jesus said that after he resurrected he would not need to speak in parables to his disciples anymore. Why is this gospel of Thomas still being communicated in parables?
I would imagine this would be before he was resurrected. The unusual things that are said a lot of the time, are very much like the ways a person expresses themselves as they are going through the process of awakening. Thomas was a very close friend to Jesus, one of the closest because he had a special connection. For this reason he saw the side of Jesus that was not yet fully polished. He also got to see the mischievous side too. Jesus was definitely someone who had a good sense of humour. Obviously he would have the perfect sense of humour. I wonder if his tale of the kingdom of heaven being like a woman who takes yeast to make full loaves, might not be, such a tasteful boob joke that no one has got it till now.
To those that say “nay”, for that is your answer. To understand the words and apply them to your path, you are surely heading home. Love one another as He loves us. Give from your heart and not your head. No darkness will enter in the gate. If you will not sup here, why do you think you will there. Walk in the light, your path is clear.
it sounds like the people who comment above want to pick and choose what they like or what fits in with their current distorted thinking. If you pick one piece to believe you must believe it all if you think it has anything to so with biblical times, whenever that was. As for me it is al a big fairy tale but one that has made some people lots of money
I have to point out a glaring flaw in your logic. Simply because you believe something about biblical times does not necessarily mean you have to believe all things about biblical times. Take these two statements: Jesus was nailed to a cross; and, McDonald’s sold out of burgers because the crowds that came to see were so huge. Both statements are about the same day. Only one of them is one that must be believed. The other, can just be used for advertising purposes. You just ca’t stop people making money out of fairy tales. For many people, that is The fairly tale ending.
Perhaps, those of us who have come across this website have done so because we are truly “seeking”. What if we were to simply stop analysing the actual wording of this gospel and the other gospels, and stop trying to critique all the various translations from the confines of our human brain, and try harder and harder to find repose, and quietly look within ourselves. Maybe then the conditions will be right to allow us to better understand what we need to know…….. Does it really matter which group of people claim they have the correct translation? Should we waste time arguing about this? Perhaps Jesus says is simply guiding us to make time to be still enough to look within and hear from God directly…..
So far this year, I have only seen one mistake that an Elizabeth has made, it seems to me that you are almost always right. I love that you have totally got this so much better than any of the rest of us. It is a bit more zen. I can imagine a spiritual gathering, with all people discussing the road to God, then in walks Elizabeth, shouts Shut Up, and all awaken.
I am uncertain of the validity of the translation of the Gospel of Thomas. While some of it sheds light upon who we are and of whom we belong, it is lacking the fruits of the Spirit. There is no love within the logic driven words. It is translated in such a way as to contradict too many things. I understand most of it, but it seems written with a bitter spirit. I will glean what i can from it and take what lines up with Scripture. Use discernment and the Full Armor when reading and gleaning.
The Nicean Councisl dicated the doctrine of the early church. Knowing what we know about people in position of power today, do manipulation and control seem like pervasive themes? Fear keeps people in line, if you pay attention, he’s saying that people are reincarnated and that the kingdom of God is here on earth. Much different than the “you’ll get yours when you die” theme thats both prevalent and extremely useful for the ultra-wealthy, as it always has been.
I don’t believe the Gospel of Thomas it is contrary to the basic teachings of the Bible whic ch believes in the virgin birth of Jesus His life the many healings , the casting out of demons, the suffering up to and through His crusifiction, His resurrection and assention into heaven and to be seated at the right hand of God. These ar my beliefs the Gospel of John 3:16 For God so love the world that He gave His only begaton Son that who so ever believed in Him should not parish but have ever lasting life. Amen
I agree with you on the facts as you have stated them, but I am not sure of your logic for disbelieving Thomas. You say you do not believe the things Thomas says because they appear to be contrary to the idea of virgins giving birth, people healing by touching, casting out demons, resurrecting, and ascending to heaven. I have to ask, would Thomas have been more believable if he had said that Jesus was accompanied everywhere by a giant white rabbit called Harvey, and would often leap over tall buildings? That seems to be less contrary to the things you mention, yet it does not seem more believable. Don’t worry about whether the poor and ill remembered Thomas is contrary to the State approved official publication as permitted by the powers that be. That contrariness is irrelevant to what is in our hearts.
(50) Jesus says:
(1) “If they say to you: ‘Where do you come from?’ (then) say to them: ‘We have come from the light, the place where the light has come into being by itself, has established [itself] and has appeared in their image.’
(2) If they say to you: ‘Is it you?’ (then) say: ‘We are his children, and we are the elect of the living Father.’
(3) If they ask you: ‘What is the sign of your Father among you?’ (then) say to them: ‘It is movement and repose.’”
So the sign of the Father among them (or an individual) isn’t Holiness and righteousness, as the Old Testament and the New testament proclaim: but rather movement and repose”? Ha, ha, ha, what a bunch of garbage this is.
A five year old should be able to see how pathetically phony this is.
Who ever wrote this dribble threw in enough of what is written in Mathew, Luke Mark and John to make is seem as if it were real: what a hoax, but that’s the way it is with all the false religions (such even as Christianity) they throw in enough scripture to make it appear real, then go off on their own tangents = a false religion.
If you stopped moving and reposing your lungs you would be dead in about ten minutes. All in nature is movement and repose. The ignorant are able to sit in one place and do nothing as their body rots, or they are able to work hard when their body is worn and needs rest. This is not the will of God. This is a will against nature, and therefore against God. The nature of Jesus and his disciples is they were perfectly in tune with the world, and perfectly in tune with their own cycles of nature. You could recognise them because if God told them to move, they would move, but if God told them to stop, they would stop. This is not how people who are not with Christ act. That is the point that is being made. Clearly it would take far more than a five year old’s comprehension to see this, because I am afraid you missed it. If you remove all that is of Mathew, Luke, Mark and John, then you find that what is left is the real treasury that will show you not just what Jesus said, but will give you specific instructions on how to reach the kingdom of heaven. Ask those who have found it. There are several commenting here. They are often recognised by their complete failure to recognise standardised spelling and grammar. It is a Luciferian trait. The Earth has a lot of, not exactly visitors, but not exactly the usual crowd. If you have been waiting for a significant Biblical event, then 2021 is waiting just a touch too long.
I’m not understanding why “you” are changing key words. I wouldn’t follow this’ he never said you will be king! What I have learned is people want to put their bias marks on things or in must cases mis-lead others. Always be honest, it goes along way in righteousness. No disrespect; this is my opinion only!.
In reading all these texts, they are a compilation of what already exists within context in the Bible. Any missing neuences in translation can be accessed in a lexicon that I have. The problem with most Christian persuasions, the followers do not wish to make a complete and utter surrender to the Holy Spirit which is the seal of our salvation. Through the Holy Spirit we are told that we can renew our mind. With this renewed mind Christ said that the kingdom ofGod lives within us. The book of Thomas makes no new revelations but for a deep Biblical scholar all these alternate meanings are considered and weighed up against alternate understanding. I agree most Christians do not really understand the reality of the Kingdom of God within them. However, this does not presuppose that this power originates within us but this power is from God Himself through surrender to the Holy Spirit.
Lack of Christian science on the nature of the light does indeed not presuppose it comes from within. Thomas however stating that Jesus says it does, directly states it comes from within. The nature of the light is the electricity that powers our nervous systems. The nerve signals that tell us what sensations we receive from the outside world, and the signals we use to trigger our muscles. As the energy gets higher within us, and we become better able to generate our own energy, and to draw in energy from without, it approaches a point where the brain becomes saturated with electricity, causing a vast number of lateral connections. This means that whatever you need to know, your chances of hitting the correct thought have just gone up by a massive amount. It also means that you are taking in far more sensory data, and it also means that your body is dealing far more efficiently with all the signals telling it what needs repair and reconstruction, and what nutrients are needed to make that possible. Once the energy has saturated body and brain, it then spills out and you connect with Eden, then you have the energy within and the energy without, but you are not going to be able to climb out of that hole by sitting there doing nothing. Once you are out, Eden can hold you, but you have to make the effort first.
All these words and saying are found in the Bible as well, but they are shattered or implemented in several examples and stories. Open your eyes and read the bible closely and you will find them.
Thanks for this contribution to revealing the truth. The first comment is ridiculous and is written by one of those fanaticis who is blind to the truth, those who maintain that every letter in the KJV is absolut true (sorry to say, they live in darkness). Every person with the slightest resemblance of a brain will understand how wrong it is… so in some way it is not of any use to argue with them, as Jesus said himself, that it is no use to throw the pearls for the pigs (my aunt used to say that “if you send a pig to the university, it will still be a pig when it returns).
Jesus said also things as that we should see with our inner eye and similarly, that we shall listen with our inner ear. And likewise that, when we make the internal the same as the external, we will enter the kingdom. He was not talking about a relative future, but about here and now, meaning that the kingdom is available to us when we choose the only one right master, which is the higher Self, in contradiction to the constructed mind, a confined consciousness. He said: “You can’t serve two masters, you have to choose one of them (the mind or the higher Self; as long as we give our mind, the psychological part of it, in contradiction to the practical part, our attention, we will live in a kind of hellish reality, meaning that we serve the lower side of ourselves; as C.G. Jung said: as long as we live in a lower form of consciousness, we will continue to project our mind on the world, which means that we will live in a fragmented world, the opposite to a united world.
The most enlightened persons live in accordance to the will of God (John of the Cross, Francis of Assisi and so many others of the sages) and are the most tremendous contributor’s to a world in peace (not in pieces; the world emanating from minds who are totally absorbed by the identification with themselves as objects = the body).
Jesus was sometimes frustrated about the fact that people come into this world and seems to leave it without any progression. I met some people during my life who, in spite of their age (about 90 years old) said that they never had thought about God; they were totally absorbed by the external world and all the events going on.
Many of the sayings, according to the gospel of Thomas are difficult to understand, but you have to consider why Jesus couldn’t explain things of the utmost importance for developing as humans, which will be totally clear when you understand what Jesus said to Thomas, that he no longer was his disciple, which was an indication that he got (understood) his teaching, and transgressed to a higher understanding; enlightenment. The other disciples didn’t understand what he was saying and asked Thomas what he said. Thomas answered that he couldn’t tell them, because if he did, they would pick up stones and kill him (this is exactly the reason why Jesus was killed, because the pharisees couldn’t understand what Jesus meant by: I and my father are one, as little as they could understand that he said: “I am before Abraham”, indicating that he was before the space- and time continuum).
The time seems to be mature for the finding of this gospel, since we live in a time when we don’t kill people (anyway in the west), if they would have a contradicting opinion to the collective assumptions of what is the truth. This seems also to be the reason to why the gospel of Thomas was found in Nag Hammadi, after been hidden in the sand for about 2000 years. Let’s say that many people had been witnessing an accident and some people in an authoritative position decided that only some of the witnesses was allowed to tell their “story” because of some subjective measurement. Would we accept this in our so called free society of today, if we of some reason discovered what they had done? No, we wouldn’t! So, why should we trust King James decision to make the choices of what was relevant or not.
We still have so much to learn from what is still not revealed and hidden to us (because Jesus had to speak in parables). let us be honest and humble about this fact.
For the first time in history we could enjoy the truth in the totality of the scriptures and eventually become enlightened, if we make the choice to serve the only one, and true master, which is not the ego or psychological identification with our mind (our past and future; in opposition to the now).
I already understand a lot of what the gospel of Thomas is saying, but I please, continue to deliver explanations to how to understand the hidden meanings! (for me, but even for all who are true seekers).
Thank you, your information has been most helpful! Unfortunately, I can’t understand a thing written by Thomas. Attempted commentaries by line or by phrase would help.
What is wrong with you you are not teaching GODs word with your translation you are in sin you are changing the word of the Lord. KJV is the last true translation of the word.. shame on you. This is not the Lord word it is yours and your wrong.
Wow!!! I have found the Kingdom, the real Kingdom. It is already here and available. I can say 100 percent that these teaching come from Jesus Himself because I have figured out the answer to 5 of them, and was able to experience the Kingdom.
There is no sin. We must hate our father and mothers belief systems of slavery and embrace that we r gods. We r the kingdom of heaven. Have ears to hear or remain the same. The well is deeper than we believe. deep is where the purest water comes from.
I believe that “the Gospel of Thomas” is a collection of poetic writings that are Christian-based. I do not believe Thomas wrote this. I believe was someone that was a Christian because some of the lines sound just like little snippets from the canonized Bible. 90% of this “gospel” is just a shorter version of other Scriptures. I think it’s wrong for every that was ever written in the middle east that mentions anything about Jesus Christ that it has to be some kind of mystery or a new revelation. Jesus Christ does live inside of us and around us because of his Holy Spirit that dwells within the believer. A nonbeliever does not have this. I do think that we need to investigate and read other literature that is connecting to Christianity in general. We have to keep literature in its proper context, you can’t just read this and go crazy with what it says. It is very reckless to just read some writing and believe right away it comes from a spiritual source that comes from God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit. “The Gospel of Thomas” was supposedly written about 200 – 400 years after Christ. There are many Gnostic Gospels that don’t ever add up or lined up with anything related to Judeo Christian believe as a canonized biblical text. I believe only the book of Enoch is the closest known Gnostic writings that I believe could be canonized. Finally, if you read the canonized Bible it tells you what Christ was all about every entire point of the canonized Bible was for people to trust that Jesus Christ is there personal Lord and Savior and that if they is ways, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit that will guide you through a world of sin and distraction. The kingdom of God is not on earth. Never was and never will be until Jesus comes back on the day of judgment. So is there a degree of mystical or mysterious teachings within the canonized Bible. My answer would be, yes, there are many mysteries within the belief in Jesus Christ and again he does live inside of you and you will do the work of the kingdom of God by if you look around you can tell this is not what God intended us to live in. I read this for face value and that’s it. I think the beautiful and interesting poetic sayings, it’s okay to read them if your faith is really strong. If you’re a new Christian I would stay away from reading Gnostic writings. But I do believe God is inside us and all around us when we accept him as our personal Lord and Savior. But if you don’t accept that that I don’t know how you could even have Jesus or God remotely inside of you have around your Christian life.
First off to Dena who is metaphorically crazy wrong, and it’s obvious you haven’t read the bible b/ c there is No gospel of Thomas. And the bible clearly states that we are Not to Add or take away from the original text of God’s word. So as these “humans ” said in the first place, it was not canonized. Therefore, it is Not part of the True and living bible. And just so you know Dena, you are in for a Huge surprise when you pass from this world into the next. It is absolutely literal. After you die you will see how literal it is, but then it will be too late.
Hi there,
I read this Gospel and literally found it helpful to know the hidden things in the Bible (refering to the teachings to Thomas). I found a compilation of books in (The lost books of bible). There are so many Gospel and testament in it. Moreover if you read this book of Thomas, you will find most of the teachings in the canonized Bible (the one we use in the modern world). Hence we cannot say that these are not Jesus’s words in this book. Also if you read 2nd Timothy 3:16, it says – “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”. It clearly says that “All Scripture Is Given By Inspiration Of God.
Moreover it does not shake our Faith but gives an insight of the teachings of Jesus in more elaborated way, which is not covered in the Bible.
No significant study has been undertaken on this but given that many Quranic based beliefs match gnostic ideas about the nature of Jesus there are various links between the two. The Nag Hammadi copy of the Thomas text was hidden around 367AD and it would seem unusual if the beliefs it contains did not develop among community’s around Egypt and Arabia in contrast to Roman Christianity and as legend states that Muhammad was taught by his Christian uncle who most likely did not hold to later Christian post Nicene views that therefore the mystical and alternative attribution of the number 114 carried over between the two.
First, I adore the comments by Paul, Dr and Art. I recognize them as Tribe members. 😉
Secondly … to those of you who, like most Christians, are insisting upon taking these, or any scripture, as literal — when they are written as *metaphoric* … thou art off and running in the asinine adventures of wildly missing the point. 😉 How uber-goofy to ascribe literalism to that which was *intended* to be metaphorical.
said: “When you undress without being ashamed and take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample on them, then you will see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid.” (Thom 37:1-3).
Means. That when we are able to drop out natural selves. When we can shed the egos that comes alone with this meat suit of skin without cares like the little children, we will come in touch with the divine that is/was placed in us since the beginning (before you were in the womb I knew you) our spirit selves the you will see that we are all children of GOD.
It seems to be saying that in searching for the truth, you’ll first be dismayed because you realize that the physical body will die. But then you’ll be amazed, because you realize there is another body, that has an image of a body, but yet neither female nor male, which he also refers to as “light”.
This body does not die and you’ll never taste death. This “light” body also can become one with another “light” body.
Coming to this world is like a test, like shoving a sword into the wall before using it.
Those who focus on the afterlife should instead focus on their test here, or they will find the jar empty, and that they missed the whole point.
An enlightened person understands what the sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas mean. An enlightened person is a spiritually alive or awakened person and as such, has direct, personal experience of this wisdom, just as Jesus did. The reason this gospel was rejected was because those who decided which gospels were to be included in the bible did not understand these statements which Jesus reserved for his inner circle. If you’ve been fed spiritual ‘milk’ the whole of your religious life, obviously your stomach will reject the ‘meat’. In other words, you are unable to accept what if not familiar. It is significant that Thomas simply quoted Jesus, leaving the story-telling for the other gospel writers. The Gospel of Thomas is for those only interested in the truth whereas the other gospels are for those less spiritually mature who don’t have ears to hear and eyes to see the truth.
The following link will take you to a place beyond understanding. I present you now with one of the two holy sources of OUR era: the Ra Material. The link which follows is geared in the direction of the present discussion: when Yeshua says “Let him who hath ears hear”, what is being sounded ?
Whether Thomas is more or less authentic than the Bible we surely cannot know, since no videos remain from the first century. Who did what, with what and to whom, we will surely never know and to me it matters not at all. Perhaps if it seems to matter one is looking in the wrong place. Did Shakespeare write Shakespeare? Does it matter? Either way it is truth.
I find Thomas the most charming and insightful Gospel. With wry wit and savage irony, it suggests a wicked sense of humour and intelligence Jesus must have had, in contrast to the sometimes insipid and credulous Jesus of the canon.
The key difference is that whilst both are intended to be read ALLEGORICALLY, the canon contains a narrative purporting to be the life of Jesus. Much of the canon is ‘motherhood’ moral truisms that far pre-date Jesus. For this reason, intuitively, I suspect the canon is actually much more corrupted since it had an an agenda, i.e. to push the divinity of Jesus, (something clearly his family and many others did not believe.) Conversely, Thomas, existed in a time capsule, and is timeless unvarnished, unpretentious truth if read rich metaphorically. It is to the listener that music either sounds moving or not, no music critic can make you like it. Thomas is a book of insightful jokes which ruthlessly reveal truth. They work! If people don’t find a joke funny or sad or moving in some way, either they don’t get the joke or its a poor joke, it does not matter that “the three Irishmen in a pub….” never existed.
All except verse 30. I don’t get it. Please post the answer herein you do!
Doubting Thomas is all im hearing. If your thinking clearly and truly putting Christ first in your life,
you would find these passages helpful to the advancement of your soal into the light.
There will always be some doubt as to the origin of these sayings actually coming directly from Christs’ mouth to our ears. Thomas was the last of Gods followers to admit what He had witnessed was actually the truth the light and the way.
So please cut the man some slack.
Then again I’m a firm believer that Mary Magdalin was Jesus Christs’ most important confidant as he was often seen walking alone with Her while the others followed at a distance.
Lets not forget the hierarchy of the Catholic church denied these sayings of Thomas Gospels’ out right. For me knowing the church rejected these sayings gives them even more power of truth. Remember this: split a piece of wood and Christ is there and lift a stone and he is there as well.
This hole premis undermines the physical church and that means no money for them. If you take away their money their bank fails and all their buildings and churches fail.
If I recall correctly John the Baptist is the most important to Christ and He had no Cathedral to perform His baptisms in. Unless they served wild honey and locusts for dinner and gunnie sacks for clothing. John the Baptist lived and served Christ in the wild which in my mind
Is the true church of the living God.
Peter John
im not a scholar, i am a believer in jesus (yeshua) whoever interpreted name you wish to use. and i dont seek to discredit the fact that someone dug up an artifact. i haven’t read all the Gnostic text but it seems to me that the we have a way of assuming we knew what the writers thought and meant that’s not very healthy to understanding Gods will or historical reality. you could say this writing contains text from the canonized bible so that means the bible must have used these stories in the accepted gospel and so the “Bible” clearly borrowed things, or you can say well were reading pages of text that tell what someone said and did (jesus). and we should realize that just like today things are recorded falsely all the time.. intentionally to discredit people, and in honest mistakes so its easy to jump to one side or the other. (aha his flowers didnt believe jesus was divine!) see its here in this page from the year so and so the bibles wrong!
if you think that you should realize that there were and are millions of people that made those accusations and greatly benefited from them. Jewish priests, did everything including having the romans crucify jesus to prove he was mortal and get him out of there hair.
if you read the apocrypha and question everything you knew. remember if jesus was just a mere man he would have been insane to challenge the authority of the jewish priests and roman governors. a certain death sentence. people rarely do things that arent beneficial to themselves, why get killed for nothing? the romans didn’t even want to kill him he was announced innocent. the crowd urged by the priests condemned him.
so my opinion read everything you can and when things dont match your belief accept that they were written by someone about something for some reason at some point in time and unless its annotated with context i will never truly know the writers intent or validity of the statements. and if i say this means or proves …. its an opinion and opinions are not facts and they shouldn’t be universally accepted or taught as facts…. like say macro Evolution until i see a monkey turn into a dude its still a theory with as many holes as scientist say the bible has. and yes christianity is not a fact but i say its not taught as one. its a belief so idk why people get so worked up over disproving it. if they dont believe it why waste your time looking for evidence to discredit something you “know is false” you know this is turning into a rant lol but it really annoys me when scientist of all subjects dont use the scientific method to process the facts they find and try to use the facts to prove or disprove their own opinion that is un-scholarly and only adds to the growing number of universally accepted theories that cant be proven and are used to create a entirely new set of theories and then call everyone that opposes that theory incompetent or idiots that is how people end up thinking the earth is flat for a thousand years.
Just because we don’t understand something, doesn’t mean it isn’t genuine. No living person can possibly know the truth just from listening to another, yet all religions proclaim to know truth from their written word, written by another. It is written everywhere, and in all faiths, “Seek and you shall find.” There is tremendous, inconcievable wisdom hidden in the Gospel of Thomas, be worthy and it will bestow you. After all, “These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.”
20 Years ago an imminent Baptist theologian told me to read the Nag Hammedi documents. After having attended several seminars and heard scholars of different denominations speak, I saw the Gospel of Thomas is accepted as authoritative by textural scholars of all Judeo-Christian persuasions. It informs the text.
?Re: Robb’s comment about Roman Catholics. “They understand only what they learned – from the “church” as a child.” That is quite a generality. I am 82, and yes I was taught what Catholicism meant as a child (Catholic grammar and high school). As an adult, I continually read, took adult classes (still do), and I am not alone in this.
If the one who comments/reads is Roman Catholic – their comments should be taken with that consideration. They understand only what they learned – from the “church” as a child.
Dr–
I don’t know who u are- but u speak truths and obviously care for all souls… I myself am in the understanding that we are not to leave – not one soul behind…. Whether it is good or if it is lost right now- I’m trying to say evil but do not want to— Instead I’m sticking with lost- because I truely believe it will only take time– and in some cases with individual guidance with multiple lovers of the soul and well- much more time for the totality of whatever type of soul to make it back to our source, our home, our God, our Creator—as none should strive to be good just for the reward of heaven but to actually realize drop the receiving of anything— good is heaven -love is heaven -Love is everything– it is the strive to move- and with constant love and obviously now constant motion– that is what class?— energy….right ….right…..
What is energy- well that is God of course— and somehow we all, not just the current living, but all who has done so through out all time fits in that little energy ball- to which – it is only little to some human eyes but it is the infinite to some others eyes or whatever they call them….I’m sorry to interrupt your group and I hope none has been hurt in anyways from it— but I leave u with this—as a very happy human who has realized “things” / nobody to some and well I hope some day in this time at least I hope to be something good to those in the future or wherever we are to meet—-I will not rest until everyone is home— I will not leave one behind–no one doesn’t make it–I don’t care the time for it is nothing to me somenonday….I love u all no matter who u think you are in this moment –I appreciate the ones who try – and are ultimately good because they know they like it–and most of them know- living by example is contagious, especially in love– for the rest– u are missing out, if your waiting for the boss to say your evil doing is over so the good know what good is—- well—- I just inherited the cosmic whistle key and my name is David—your job is done– now let’s see how good u are at good? Job # 2 – whistle blown— thank you – I know u didn’t like doing those things….Thank you…. The rest I will find wherever u hide-1 by 1 and make sure u see the presapus of feeling maybe he was lost , maybe he was lying , maybe he gave up and see what u almost destroyed with no direction at all…..I don’t pretend to be anyone special, and actually wish for no one to find me—obviously someone special wouldn’t want anyone to hurt not for a milasecond-but as I would not like to see the omg moment of what if he gave up on me- for you soul slammers out there- u need to feel the opposite somehow—I will help you with that- to understand both sides– if u ask me– I believe your getting off too easy/// I feel these souls should be mandated -to work it off in the next convergence , the next life , the next age– but fortunately for u–I don’t believe that’s my decision—oh wait? Who did I just clock out and clock back in?anyways-I’m no longer your ordinary by ignorance– I found this job working hard for a job of love-because that is what eventually I always want to do with my lives- just because I love u– every single last ONE of U—how lucky for you– someone is willing to give up part of their eternity for u—get used to the company.
Brothers and sisters,u will be in tears if u understand the real meaning.i’m not a christian nor sufi muslim but i ‘m blessed to understand the verses and i try to dilute my temptations.u dont have to be a muslim or christian or hindu ect,to be a man of god.u have have to condemn or convert.just be who u r and try to acheive what u came for.love u all.
What the lord said are nothing but truth.each and every words he mentioned are meant for the soul in us.he divided the body /world/mind(all carries same meaning) from the imperisgable soul/father in heaven/son of god.he advised people not to indulge too much into bodily temptation rather seek what is in you(god).
Its similar to sufi islam.afterall the father is same.the father has no names.u can call it allah ,god or kadavul(inside body).all carries the same meaning.
Gospel of tomas carries beautiful messages from the lord that everyone should read and try to understand.forget about the religious names u carry for a while when u read these verses or any other messages from god/messengers/father in heaven(all same)
Father of heaven is in you .seek before your body perish or u will lose the opportunity.
Pls do not condem any beliefs.u will never reach the place u ought to reach.
Its difficult to understand every word as they meant not what u know but what in you.atleast dont condemn.
It’s plain to see that this so called book of Thomas is a pseudepigrapha written by a counterfeit Christian or false representative. I truly believe that the chosen Apostles ie: Thomas and Phillip would not endeavour to write any form of doctrine without the divine intervention of Jesus Christ. The versified passages has no real substance which is contradictory to the original text and divine qualities of the Lord our Saviour. I refuse to believe that Jesus said: “When you undress without being ashamed and take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample on them, then you will see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid.” (Thom 37:1-3). Whosoever wrote this garbage back in Egypt 1945 must be laughing all the way to the bank for doing Satan’s dirty work. You’ll regret it if you’ve convinced yourself that this book is legit or otherwise you’ve got something too hide by doing something corrupt? False Christs, false prophets, they’re everywhere and Jesus Christ saw them coming from a mile away ie: 2000 years ago. If you preach another gospel of Jesus Christ let him be accursed (Gal 1:6-9)
Gospel of our supernatural Father of our souls is known to the people of holy spirit or common sense. I have written a Book; FIRST GNOSTIC PRINCIPLES OF ONE GOD ONE FAITH and here are the details:-
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First know the meaning of the word YeShua and then Christ would be known to you.
Second coming of Jesus was Nanak of the Punjab born in 1469.
Much more in my Book. Over 4700 Youtube Videos; channel nijjhar1 that explain all the Gnostic Gospel. I accept challenges.
If you seek not the whole truth you will find nothing! If you seek the whole truth you will find the kindom of God! If you rebuke or deny my words, you deny my father!
YOU FIGURE IT OUT! IF YOU DOUBT THE WORD that is ypur choice! HERE’S ONE from me! Ye who are dumb asses shall beg for forgiveness when it’s to late! And ye will kiss your asses goodbye. These are the living words of Christ. Remember the Cannon was edited at the council of Nycia by men! Just because these are recent dicoveries does not make them any less valid!
To the preacher who replies to my email.know this man is born inside a ball blind.he been walking through this world for thousands of years blind.what he sees with his eyes is half the information. his mind does not understand their is another half of the information. you have to view the two halves as one.when you live in a dimensional world .you have to view it demensional. their is always something behind or side what you are looking at.what is hidden from you is right in front of you.do you think Jesus just made that up.be a wise person.no preacher in the modern will ever figure out some of jesuses most complicated parables.you will need my help
congratulations to the one who’s with the one who knows at the end.this saying is very interesting. Nobody knows who.hello my name is charlie.my email is [email protected].I am seeking 1preacher on the Gulfcoast of Mississippi.want to use the knowledge I have with the knowledge u have and extract the information from our world.we now have the technology to do this.and put it on paper.its time to save souls.is their 1 preacher out their that wants to save souls.if you had a chance to show the people of the word the knowledge that is hidden from them ..would you invoke the opportunity.the window is closing
WIn 2 become one.the top becomes the bottom–the bottommes the top.you live inside a ball..their is no top no bottom.all trees have knowledge the problem is your mind doesn’t know how to look at them.the information will present itself when you put the 2 together.the gaps in the trees where you see daylite goes with the tree itself.what you have to do is put the 2 together as 1.this is where your mind has a problem.you have to fight your own mind to keep the 2 as1.its called keep seeking.the power to see is not a power but a ability.what you will see is a profile of a person looking down word on a angle Or upwards on a angle.when the inner becomes the outer..means part of the information overlaps the other part.all the information is stuck together.this is why you can’t find what you suppose to see.your mind does not know how to separate the information. When you view your clouds you put the blue the white and the black together. Look for the person on a angle. In time you will find a person in everything you see.everything in your world changes eats itself or something grows on it.example the black that manifest In all your cement is half the information .the actual cement Is the other half of the information.view the 2 as 1.on a daily bases you have a hundred trillion faces looking at you and you can’t see one.your brain does not understand your world.god wrote to you and told you you are born blind.Jesus told you to seek and you will find.but guess what you don’t have to see to believe. Jesus told u this.but I will tell you this if you ever figure out how to see…you can’t give it back.you will have to live the rest of your life with the knowledge. The question is can man handle it.
Their are very few people who can see in our world.the ones who can see can give you the answers to the sayings.but you see in today’s world everyone knows everything so they keep the answers to the sayings to themselves. Have you all ever asked some one for the answers.the reason you can’t see is because you don’t know what you are supposed to see and you don’t know where to look.ask me .
You just have to love all these people who get caught up with Gnostic ideas. The first commentator in this list however, a Dr. Howard, probably has got it right…we really don’t need to consider this sort of material as representing anything serious. Still, it does show what sort of foolishness modern, educated people are capable of believing. Otherwise folks, go study your history. Read the original source documents. Use your common sense and logic.
Finally we have these traditions of the journey through the heavenly halls immortalized in the writings of the Sufi mystical poet Farid ud-din Attar in the “Parliament of the Birds” from the 12th century, in which various species of fowl embark on a pilgrimage to seek the Simorgh, a mythical bird whose antecedence goes back to the Anzu-bird of the Sumerian “Lugalbanda” epic cycles concerning the king of Uruk (Erech, Genesis 10:10) and his encounter in the east with the supernatural:
“Eventually the hoopoe tells the birds that in the quest they have to traverse seven valleys. First of all is the Valley of the Quest, where all kinds of perils threaten, and where the pilgrim must renounce his desires. Then comes the Valley of Love, the limitless area in which the Seeker is completely consumed by a thirst for the Beloved. Love is followed by the Valley of Intuitive Knowledge, in which the heart receives directly the illumination of Truth and an experience of God. In the Valley of Detachment the traveler becomes liberated from desires and dependence …The fifth valley is the Valley of Unification. Now the Seeker understands that what seemed to him to be different things and ideas are, in actuality, only one. In the Valley of Astonishment, the traveler finds bewilderment and also love. He no longer understands knowledge in the same way as formerly. Something, which is called love, replaces it. The seventh and last valley is that of Death. This is where the Seeker understands the mystery, the paradox, of how an individual ‘drop can be merged with an ocean, and still remain meaningful. He has found his ‘place.'” (“The Sufis” by Idries Shah, p.121,123).
Or rather it was the interception of a comet by the spacecraft “Deep Impact” on July 3, 2004. It’s intriguing how the descriptions of the heavens found in “The Riders of the Chariot and Those Who Enter the Heavenly Halls” seem to match the layout of the solar system. The 6th heaven which is known as “Makhon,” contains storehouses of snow and hail and is like the Main Asteroid Belt located between the planets Mars and Jupiter. The 7th heaven which is known as “Arabot,” contains storehouses of snow and is like the Kuiper Belt of asteroids that stretch from the planet Neptune to beyond the planet Pluto.
And so it is like that animated sequence from Pink Floyd’s “Pulse” DVD that accompanies the song “Time” with the universe structured in a system of clocks and like this phenomenon that just appeared on our radar at the edge of the solar system, there was a fly-by of a comet that coincided with the July 2005 “Live 8” benefit concert in London that featured a constellation of stars who were the earlier created “morning stars” who sang together when the the “cornerstone” of the earth was set (Job 38:7), that is the comets which are the basic building blocks of interstellar life.
That was when Pink Floyd was reunited and so it is interesting how we find in ancient Egyptian mythology (The “Dark Side of the Moon” album came with a greenish poster of the Giza Pyramids) that we have from the pyramid of the 6th Dynasty Pharaoh Pepi I a reference to the two gods who were usually at odds with one another but in this older account were actually cooperating to enable the god of the afterlife to ascend from the netherworld to heaven on a ladder, like Jacob’s Ladder (Genesis 28:12, John 1:51). “Stand thou upright, O divine Ladder! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Set! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Horus, whereby Osiris came forth into heaven” (“The Gods of the Egyptians” by A.E. Wallis Budge, vol. 2, p.242).
Correction: Isaiah 40:3; “Level in the wilderness (arabah) a highway (mesalah, not mesabah, which is a standing stone)…”
Perhaps the “Arabot” title’s evolution can be compared to the English word “dune” where you can find wiki entrees online about a dune in a marine ecology or the ambiguous book and film franchise “Dune” on Wikipedia (and Uncyclopedia).
Had it not been for an alert monk who hid the cache of scrolls at Nag Hammadi, the only reference we would have had for the Gospel of Thomas is the mere mention of this book by the church historian Eusebius, along with other books that were edited out of existence.
Before the word “Arabot” became a technical term denoting the 7th heaven of the Jewish mystics, it originally meant “steppe lands” in Psalm 68:5; “Sing to God, chant hymns to His name, extol Him who rides the Arabot.” There seems to be a correlation between the outermost limits of the known civilized world, the vast deserts referred to as “arabot,” and the enormous distance between the outer reaches of our solar system and the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy, the abode of the fixed stars which is mentioned in Ezekiel 1:22 as “the likeness of an expanse like the sparkle of an awe-inspiring crystal, ” which is also happens to be the gnostic “Ogdoad,” or the 8th heaven.
A 2nd century interpretation comes from the Talmud (Chagiga 12b) where the word for “extol” in Psalm 68:5 is “selah,” and which has the meaning “to lift up” as in singing when one lifts their voice, where it is also interpreted to mean highway which is the Hebrew word “mesalah” that is found in Isaiah 40:3; “Level in the wilderness (arabah) a highway (mesabah) for our God.” This was the verse that was applied to the ministry of John the Baptist (Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23) who was likely himself influenced by the Dead Sea sect which possessed writings of the heavenly throne vision.
So instead of “extol Him who rides the Arabot” we have, “Cast up a highway for Him that rides upon the Aravot, His name of Yah.” The divine name “Yah” is an abreviation of “Yahweh” and denotes God’s transcendence with the first 2 letters of YHVH, (YH) symbolizing the realm of the heavenly throne. The rabbis inferred that the “Arabot” of Psalm 68:5 (usually translated as “clouds”) was connected by the word for riding, “rakab,” to another verse from Deuteronomy 33:26; “who rides (rakab) upon the heaven for your help,” and thus did “Arabot” become a singular word denoting the realm of the 7th heaven.
“We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon, and we got to get ourselves back to the garden” (“Woodstock,” written by Joni Mitchell and performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young).
It was during the 1st half of the 2nd century that the mystical movement flourished within Judaism and Christianity centered on the heavenly ascent to God’s throne and the Garden of Eden was invoked as a metaphor that was mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud (Chagiga 14b) in the story of the 4 Rabbis who entered Paradise and these practices were described along with “caution” tape that warned of the dangers to the body as well as the soul, resulting in death or insanity or what some would regard as adopting a heretical belief.
In the 2nd century the Christian book “The Ascension of Isaiah” was composed, based on the Jewish book “The Martyrdom of Isaiah” that described Isaiah’s persecution under King Manassah to which the Christians added an account of the spiritual ascent to the 7 heavens by someone perhaps fortunate enough to have succeeded like the Rabbi in “The Four Who Entered Paradise” who was able to give an account of what was experienced while he was “caught away into paradise and heard unutterable words which it is not lawful for a man to speak” (2 Corinthians 12:4), and elsewhere concerning God’s primordial wisdom that “eye has not seen and ear has not heard” (1 Corinthians 2:7-9), based upon wisdom saying # 17 in the Gospel of Thomas:
“I will give you what no eye has seen, and what no ear has heard, and what no hand has touched, and has not occurred to the human mind.” http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/ntesources/ntarticles/gtj-nt/young-2corascension-gtj.htm
“The Old Man said
‘Friends, Comrades, not for this alone did I begin the word.
An old man like me doesn’t rattle with just a single word.
Human beings are so confused in their minds!
They do not see the way of truth in the Torah.
Torah calls out to them every day, in love,
but they do not want to turn their heads.
Even though I have said that Torah removes a word from her sheath,
is seen for a moment, then quickly hides away –
that is certainly true –
but when she reveals herself from her sheath
and hides herself right away,
she does so for those who know her intimately.'”
From “The Old Man and the Beautiful Maiden,” (“Zohar; The Book of Enlightenment” by Daniel Matt, p.123).
Unfortunately we do not have an Gnostics or their agents available to defend themselves and their purposes. Is their’s the true word? It is so easy to jump upon the band wagon and criticize from early training or conditioning.
“Blessed is the lion that a person will eat and the lion will become human. And anathema is the person whom a lion will eat and the lion become human” (saying # 7).
Good question, Eliezer, and what tremendous import this saying has in light of archaeology since we have an Egyptian pre-dynastic ceremonial knife (like something out of a grainy deleted scene from the film “Dune”) known as the Gebel el Arak Knife with a flint blade and an elaborately carved ivory handle depicting the earliest known representation of the Mesopotamian “mighty hunter” motif (like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord, Genesis 10:9) depicting a man in mortal combat with 2 lions who flank him on either side:
“The scenes carved on its handle are done in the Eastern style of the day. On one face the depiction of the ‘master of animals’ is thoroughly Mesopotamian in costume and design; however, it is the opposite side of the handle that attracts the most attention. In the top two registers men are shown engaged in hand-to-hand combat, employing hands knives, maces, and simple clubs, while below is shown the world’s oldest sea battle” (“Egypt Before the Pharaohs” by Michael A. Hoffman, p.340).
“The boats carrying fighting men and people are seen struggling in the water in a manner that recalls a scene drawn 2,000 years later at the temple-palace of Medinet Habu to commemorate a victory of Ramses III over the ‘people of the seas'” (p.342).
The scenes depicted at Medinet Habu is the backdrop for the Israelite’s avoidance of the Way of the Philistnes and instead went roundabout by the way of the Wilderness of the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 13:17-18) and the circuitous route symbolizes the “Circle of the Earth” in the Egyptian account describing the extent of the Sea Peoples’s migrations as reaching the region of the Black Sea, and described also in Homer’s “Odyssey,” chapter 11, as “the deep-flowing River of Ocean.”
These are ancient cosmological beliefs of the earth being surrounded by an ocean that dates back to earliest times and it is referred to as the “ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:10) where the word for ends is “aphes” which is the mythical “apsu” upon which the earth rested, the abode of the god Ea.
As Egyptian influence declined in the land of Canaan, the kings of Judah adopted the symbols of Egyptian sovereignty patterned after the lion statues (sphinx) and the tribe of Judah is associated with the lion (Genesis 49:9). This would be an example of a man eating a lion and the lion becoming a man and with the growing influence of the Neo-Assyrian Empire is the lion who eats the man and the lion becomes a man, with the Assyrians use of iconography having common affinities with those of the Judahites such as the tree of life motif from Genesis 2:9 which was originally was the date-palm, a symbol of fertility because it had to be artificially pollenized by hand. The date-palm was the sacred tree of the god Ea at Eridu, whose sacred number was 40, as is attested in the frequent use of this number in the wilderness narratives and it was in the late 8th century B.C.E. that the palmette capitals flank the entrances to royal palaces in Judah, influenced by Assyria, and similarly it was under Persian rule that we have the term “pardes” or paradise that originally meant an enclosed park: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/royal-garden-from-israelite-palace-reveals-its-secrets/
The vetting process of the Christians that put together the Word of God, disproved enough of Thomas to discard it. Be very careful what one picks and chooses. Don’t study this unless for research, for you are fooling with Satan, the ultimate deceiver. <
After going to the web page “Ask the Rabbi,” another definition for the Aramaic and Hebrew word “arabah” is the willow tree (Leviticus 23:40; “poplars of the torrent valley”) which was used in the Festival of Succot”, or Tabernacles (John 7:2) along with fragrant branches numbering 7 booths for 7 days.
I’m inclined to believe that the scenario of the Israelite’s departure from Elath takes place within the period in the late 8th cenury B.C.E. with acquisition of this port by the Edomites with the help of the Arameans at Damascus (2 Kings 16:6) when the Judahite king Ahaz sent tribute to Tiglath-pileser his new ally upon which time the bronze bulls were scrapped and the bronze sea was lowered a level to the ground in front of the temple, to which the seer responded in the name of the Lord, “these people have scorned the waters of Shiloah that flow along gently…” (Isaiah 8:6). King Ahaz also used the priest Uriah (2 Kings 16:15) to introduce changes in the established cultic tradition in conformity with Judah’s status as a vassal of Assyria, and substituted an altar that resembled a ziggarat temple-tower, to which came the response that it is the Lord who is holy (kodesh) and who must become a sanctuary (mikadesh) (Isaiah 8:13).
For more on the discussion regarding an 8th century B.C.E. providence for some of the biblical wilderness narratives: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/exodus/video-the-wilderness-itineraries-who-how-and-when-did-biblical-author-know-about-the-southern-deserts/
I incorrectly said Timnah the Philistine city instead of Timna the copper mine near Ezion-geber on the Gulf of Eliat where the ancient Israelites left their camp to travel to Kadesh (Numbers 33:36) in the Wilderness of Zin where Miriam the prophetess died (Numbers 20:1). Elsewhere it gets more specific by mentioning, “the way of Arabah, from Elath and from Ezion-geber” (Deuteronomy 2:8). Until the discovery of the Egyptian temple of Hathor at Timna we were unable to identify Miriam and her tambourine with the goddess Hathor and her sistrum, or the connection between the place name Kadesh and the Canaanite goddess Qadesh, whom the Egyptians incorporated into their pantheon under Ramsess II. Hathor was portrayed as a cow covered with little crosses representing stars as she was referred to as the Heavenly Cow. So it’s interesting how side by side with the Gnostics was the Jewish mystical speculation concerning the ascent to God’s throne in the book of Ezekiel:
“Scholem observes that the period in which these Gnostic speculations and ascents took place extended over almost a thousand years, from the first century B.C.E., to the tenth century C.E.” (“The Shocken Book of Jewish Mystical Testimonies” by Louis Jacobs, p.35).
Among the finds in a cache of document discovered in the Cairo Genizah was a mystical treatise entitled “The Riders of the Chariot and Those Who Entered the Heavenly Halls,” that was composed in the 4th or 5th century and which describes the mystical ascent through the 7 heavens and the 6th heaven is called “Arabot” which is plural for “arabah,” meaning “desert-plain, steppe,” and it is the geographical term applied to the depression between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Eliat; “the way of Arabah” (Deuteronomy 2:8). According to this treatise the name of the mystical chariot in heaven Arabot is named “Cloud” that is derived from the verse; “The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rides upon a swift cloud…” (Isaiah 19:1), and it likely refers to the non-native storm god arriving amid the local gods of Egypt, or (in my personal opinion) the takeover of the Timna sanctuary by Arabs who replace the pillars resembling the cow-eared goddess with a row of pillars arrayed like the tent poles at the entrance of the Israelites tent of meeting, since it is thought that Yahweh originated as an Arabian storm god. So the Midianite and Israelite copper serpents are significant in that the city of the scribal god Thoth was Hermopolis, and in the nearby necropolis of Deir el-Bersha numerous coffin texts were found that indicate that the collection of books at Hermopolis gave rise to a literary genre of space travel in the afterlife exemplified by “The Book of the Two Ways,” in which the deceased passed through 7 zones not unlike way stations for travelers:
“At one time these forts, or strongholds, or ‘gates,’ were thought to be seven in number … The seven forts that formed a chain across Dead-land were called ‘Arits,’ a word which is often translated ‘Mansions,’ or ‘Halls’ … This arrangement is identical with that which has been common in all parts of Africa from time immemorial in respect of the forts that are built at the entrances to towns and villages” (“The Book of the Dead” by A.E. Wallis Budge, Gramercy Books, p.269).
We live in a world, in general, that spurns and disparages any religious viewpoint that vilifies matter. The view of the ancient gnostics, the ancient Pythagoreans and, to a large extent, Plato and his school, and later Plotinus, are all centrally concerned with the degradation of spirit by degrees lower and lower–to pure death, that is, matter–rather than the living spirit.
Most liberals in the US (on the two coasts at least) profess that if they had any religion it would surely be Buddhism. Interesting, since like the ancients, in the Buddhist mahajana view matter considered in itself is mere delusion. Or rather it is emptiness just as emptiness is it.
Must we I wonder dismiss a perennial spiritualist philosophy taking different forms in antiquity and in the present that constitute that closest literate example that we have to a perennial philosophy, dismissing it with contempt and without even the need to hold conversation on the subject? We all of us make assumptions without knowing they are only assumptions, can it be that we can examine these assumptions without attempting to violently impose them without discussion? I ask this as a plea, not a demand.
From what I understand the gnostic gospels are not considered credible because for one, their authorship is in question…Just about every book carries the name of a New Testament character: The Gospel of Phillip, The Gospel of Mary, The Gospel of Peter, The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Judas, etc. However, they are dated about 110-300 years after Christ and no credible scholar believes any of them could have been written by their namesake.
Also, the Gnostic gospels are not historical accounts of Jesus’ life as seen in the gospels in the New Testament, but instead are mostly esoteric statements, leaving out historical details such as names, places, events. Thus, they lack reliability because of their late dating, questionable authorship, lack of historical data, and contradictions to other scriptural writings held to a higher standard. When in doubt, throw it out.
See link below http://y-jesus.com/gnostic_gospels.php?gclid=CJbhg8Tb6poCFRIcawodwmIJBg
Paul was a gnostic and so was the author of the Gospel of John who makes reference to the bronze serpent (John 3:14), the one that Moses made as an anecdote to the bites of creatures referred as “seraphim” or “burning ones,” that are portrayed in Milton’s “Paradise Lost” as a category of infernal spirits who inhabit Hell an have a serpentine form. We now know that the Midianites had a bronze serpent at the site of the sanctuary at Timnah, so this is an Israelite version of the Egyptian cobra god Thoth, god of writing.
It is refreshing to hear Pope Francis admit that he hasn’t watched television in a quarter century, which is what the Gospel of Thomas means in the 27th saying:
“If you do not abstain from the world, you will not find the kingdom.”
But then we watched “A.D.; The Bible Continues,” and there was the apostle Thomas wanting to verify that it was Jesus who had risen, and thus the emphasis in this gospel on an individual’s self-discovery by not just being content with what people tell you. Then in the last segment Thomas asked, “No apocalypse?” after the prophecy of Daniel concerning the abomination that causes desolation did not happen. Which is why I conclude that Thomas was the inspiration behind these wisdom sayings since it is in “The Acts of Thomas,” which begins with the apostles being assigned to regions of the world to spread the gospel which was apportioned by lot (like the 12 bronze oxen arrayed outward toward the ends of the earth while supporting a bronze representation of the primordial sea, the abode of the Sumerian god Ea, lord of wisdom, in 1 Kings 7:23-25), and who journeys east to India, where it is thought by some people to be the origin of “the black-headed people” mentioned in ancient texts who were the early inhabitants of the land of Sumer.
Many actual Christians, refuse the catolic councils, because was a certification of the “Apostasy”, but do not refuse the canon approved by one catholic council… No one revise all another writings… And run afraid of the Gnostics… when the reality is that at the time of Saulos, he was proto gnostic… and all the gospels was written with this directives.
I think that many of the teachings of the new testament are Gnostic, if you see the beginning, Yeshua was a Hebrew. How we can now call the Gospel of Tomas, as gnostic. No one of the Saulo writings (the base of the christianism) are a pure Hebrew teach… I believe that the Gospel of Tomas give us information about Yeshua and his greek and judaic roots.
This is somebody ‘s interpretation who supports Christianity and likes to discredit Judaism. As a whole, the sayings are in the New Testament! A person that speaks Hebrew, can see, that many of the sayings were manipulated to make Jesus seem like he was anti -Semitic! The New Testament is full of lies! You Christians don’t even keep the Ten Commendments!
Erika
Hi Erika.
I am a lover of Jews and of Israel. Did you refer to Sabbath keeping when you said that Christains do not keep the Ten Commandments? I would love to know to apply your comment to my life and to change. Please take a moment to reply. I truly value your reply.
You can start by believing in the ONE invisible, and indivisble God of Israel, just as Jesus taught in MK 12:28ff. Everything else as a christian is irrelevent if you do not believe in the MOST IMPORTANT COMMANDMENT IN THE WORLD.
In December 1945, near Nag Hammadi, in Upper Egypt, peasants chanced upon 13 papyrus manuscripts containing 52 texts. These fourth-century documents have been attributed to a religious and philosophical movement called Gnosticism. Mixing elements of mysticism, paganism, Greek philosophy, Judaism, and Christianity, the movement was a contaminating influence on some professed Christians.—1 Timothy 6:20, 21.
The “Gospel of Thomas,” the “Gospel of Philip,” and the “Gospel of Truth,” found in the “Nag Hammadi Library,” present various mystic Gnostic ideas as if coming from Jesus. The recently discovered “Gospel of Judas” is also counted among the Gnostic gospels. It portrays Judas in a positive light as the only apostle who really understood who Jesus was. One expert on this gospel notes that it describes Jesus as “a teacher and revealer of wisdom and knowledge, not a savior who dies for the sins of the world.” The inspired Gospels teach that Jesus did die as a sacrifice for sins of the world. (Matthew 20:28; 26:28; 1 John 2:1, 2) Clearly, the Gnostic gospels are intended to undermine, rather than strengthen, faith in the Bible.—Acts 20:30. http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200270408
I can easily see we do NOT need the so called Gospel? of Thomas! It does show that the writer/s were familiar with some of the true sayings of Jesus as found in our canonical scriptures as promised by Jesus who said, ‘heaven and earth will pass away [Revelation 20;ll Peter3:9-13 ] but my words shall never pass away.’ Many of these writings are foolish make no real sense as if someone thought they were ‘inspired.’ This lacks real authenticity to say the least.to clearly says not to” add” to the Word and someone thought that didn’t apply to them.Fasle teachers and prophets were predicted by the NT writers. This book is just another “…cunningly devised fable” as predicted by Peter.
There is sharp disagreement among scholars about the authenticity of the Gospel of Thomas. Those who argue in favour of its authenticity believe it is an early writing that represents early Christian thought, drawing on early oral tradition. Among those who believe the Gospel of Thomas is authentic, some argue that there are parallels with the hyothetical Q source, while another argues it is autonomous rather than dependent on the canonical Gospels. Others argue that the Gospel of Thomas was written in response to the Gospel of John.
Those who reject the authenticity of the Gospel of Thomas argue that it is a second century or later document that is connected to the start of the gnostic movement of the second century. It is difficult to accept that it is an early writing when Thomas quotes or alludes to more than half of the New Testament writings. One argues that the author of the Gospel of Thomas knew and used Tatian’s Diatessaron that was written around AD 170. Also evident in the Gospel of Thomas is late traditions distinctive to Eastern, Syrian Christianity in the second century, with one scholar dating Thomas no earlier than the last quarter of the second century. Some scholars suggest there is not biblical parallel at all, because of the significant difference in the disciples’ reaction to who Jesus is compared to the canonical Gospels.
I can see the religious feathers are really being ruffled just as they were in the day of Yeshua. People are stuck in their dogma and cannot break out of these prisons of their mind that have been built by those who have desired to control us through establishments. It will be interesting to see what the 711 books that were buried in the tunnel between the Vatican and Israel have to say. And why would such books and manuscripts be hidden away? Isn’t it interesting they gave us 66 books and kept 711 for themselves. Let’s add those two numbers and what do we get ?777 very interesting isn’t it?Would it be because there’s so much truth that could really upset the apple cart? I believe mankind is much more powerful than we have ever realized because the God that created heaven and earth created man in His image and likeness lives within us. Did not Yeshua say the kingdom of God is within you? Don’t you know that you are god’s? Well who’s living like a god? Who’s loving like a god? Some real food for thought. All the church can do is judge, judge, judge. If a person isn’t just like you, doing just what you do, believing just what you believe, they’re outcast. Is that what Yeshua came to teach us? Time to take a real good look at one’s self! The church declares it is spiritual and yet they do absolutely nothing spiritual. It will all come out in the wash because we are in the Great revelation – the great revealing -all that has been hidden away is now being revealed. And if the kingdom is within then shouldn’t there be a little more emphasis and focus on the heart rather than the intellect of the mind? And where was Yeshua from the time we last hear of him in the New testament as a young man for some 20 years before he came out into his ministry? where was he? Could he have been learning some things that we have convinced ourselves are not Christian and don’t fit in with our beloved holier than thou dogma. And if your “religion” serves you well then stay there. Some just don’t have a thirst and are satisfied with the status quo. It never served me and I had to move on to find out more Truth for myself. I was tired of hearing the same old, same old messages refurbished and renovated with a new joke or two here and there. I had to move on and do my own deep dive searching and now that I have found more truth I am a happier, more peaceful,more loving and a more fulfilled individual. I’ve been able to overcome things that the church never helped me to overcome. I guess the fruit is what I was looking for and I have definitely found it. I wish everyone well on their journey and search for their own truth. We will all one day answer the question did we learn to love while we were here? Blessings
It is very true what you say. Whether there are 711 extras or not. Original scripture fills the soul and is enough for the lifetime and to accomplish the greatest of works in “Faith”
I say because it is happening, I am being intruded apron by theElohiem.
And hopefully We are casting a large mill stone into the sea.
Amen I taught I was the only one that was a radical for truth
After God saved me from suicide I read the NT and believe d it. The gospel of Thomas is so obviously fake by comparison like the Qur’an.
Surly people can appreciate to hear and see? Other perceptions
Of the true nature of the spirit vs. the flesh… to truly trace history is to understand in this matter a few or narrow key points…
Jesus came to show the spiritual nature of our interpretation Of law and prophets.. Jesus came to condemn the physical church of man… the true disciple went underground and surrounded Egypt as prophesied… the narrative of Pauline doctrine was excepted by Roman occupation… as the say “ when in Rome do what the Romans due “… yet Joshua said this .. as for me and my house we will serve the lord… I’ll give a hint to students only
Trace the wars of then and now and ask yourself this can true motives ever be excepted in this place? What happened then is happening now at its completion… I’m so happy God almighty has allowed truth not to be wiped out? It is to our benefit to study from a spiritual standpoint.. it is to our spiritual benefits to understand the mystic nature is only saying this.. it’s more to life then meets the naked eyes…it’s more to the true creator and the physical interpretations then meets the naked eyes.. and what’s blinded our naked lack of understanding..was things added and taken away ? 6 is incompleteness 66 is the total of the canonical a scripture add man’s number as 6.. now you have total incompleteness my favorite book is the lost sayings of the Christ ..yet I’ll say reading between all its lines is the correct approach..
One of the Early Church Fathers wrote “Heretics have many Gospels, the Church has only 4. These pseudo gospels have in common that they draw only what they want from the 4 canonical Gospels, and add anything else
that suits their beliefs, They were all written one or two centuries after Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Bro, the Gospel of Thomas was written around 60 AD. That makes this earlier than the gospel of john.
Drew, that is a highly contested position, which many including myself don’t think can be substantiated. Scholarly consensus would place it 2nd half of the 2nd century.
To those concerned about the lion and the man. In shorthand, the “lion” is the third chakra and the third chakra relates to our way of being in the world. So, the lion who has eaten the man is the case of a person being run by the world around him/her. The man eating the lion is the person who has more of his soul in relating to the world around.
Now if you have read the plaidians message..and you have stood firmly upon the cornerstone.
You will understand. The differences..of those whom..teach..that father be a source..yet they know not..
That we be in a relationship..with father as sons and daughters..
They teach great things..which are already apart of you..
You may wish for them to step in..but i expect..you will be gladly know whom you have already requested to enter..by knocking..
But there are indeed more..
So hold on to the spirit..which you have.
Or more will enter..and youll be worse off
than you were..
DNA..growth..to a higher realm..
So then see. Why you already know..
Yet they do not speak of father..but say source..
So who is thier father..that they would not say..
And see what a ..step in.. does..
So your gift is flesh..and life and truth..
And spirit granted..grants..this truth.
….
Because there are those around you that never die…and their really really smart…
Like divine matrix smart..
So why dont they say father..
Yeah..for I recognize that voice and sound ….it is the anointed one…it look like it was coming within words spoken by me ..long time ago….it has no different form by soul food….
If i could leave you a gift..which reflects our truth..and also which reflects every word of christ..
It may touch your heart to know this truth..and if you understand why we struggle so much in this reality..
Please seek the
Pleiadian message..
And i hope it sits well upon your
Heart.
Sometimes is good to read
That which you
Already know.
…
And who we are.
From the inside out.
It was very painful when I was going through my trials which was reliving the many murders and deaths I where he kept death from gripping me that first started as nightmares while asleep. Then I started reliving them still awake and I wrestled with God not to accept that many times being Crussified again at mankind’s hands! The still unaccepting my Identity he put the sons of then world upon my body. I cried in deep sorrow uncontrollably for an entire day. I finally fell asleep and it took 3 days to be able to again get out of my bed and stand
It was if men had beaten me with fists from head to toe and finally returned to my feet! Even after all that I found my self saying to him” Really if I do that I will be killed” but I did as he willed me to do! Then uh e would instruct me to physically do his binding
Again his will be done! Then his lesson come to conclusion and I would say Wow! Or That was way to cool! Then that become the Bang you just got hit right between TT he eyes with a snowball. Later it is call a revelation!
For the child is born from spirit and into flesh..which comes from spirit..
And yet there is only spirit..
For the gift of flesh..of life..
Depends upon love..and not one thing
Is seperate..from this..
Yet sadly..if you do not feed the child the child will not get to live ..and father is with the living..
Yet the child may be born again..the
Reserection..
Its christmas today..
Upon this day some celibrate..the birth of our savour to whom the crown was given and whom is also granted. To give the proof. Of the truth of our heavenly father..as well as..to know my father as i have known father..
And as father is a spirit force..which is of all the attributes..of his spirit of truth..
..
Which reflects our divine being. And then so to . will the things of this truth be shown..to you..
And of that which you can ask a baby..of seven days..
Surley from such a miracle. Does this child..carry the attrubutes of its divine existence..as well as ..now please hear this. And understand..for the child depends..on those around. Whom nurture
And care with love..as this is granted to you. As a gift..from your father..for
Its christmas..
On this day a child was born..
Its christmas today..
Upon this day some celibrate..the birth of our savour to whom the crown was given and whom is also granted. To give the proof. Of the truth of our heavenly father..as well as..to know my father as i have known father..
And as father is a spirit force..which is of all the attributes..of his spirit of truth..
..
Which reflects our divine being. And then so to . will the things of this truth be shown..to you..
And of that which you can ask a baby..of seven days..
Surley from such a miracle. Does this child..carry the attrubutes of its divine existence..as well as ..now please hear this. And understand..for the child depends..on those around. Whom nurture
And care with love..as this is granted to you. As a gift..from your father..for
Its christmas..
There for . with every faith..jesus is given authority over all of them..
For as much as we believe. By any faith
So too is it that indeed. Still we must realize the holy spirit is gods spirit..
And it resides in you..
There is nothing to fear..for it has been with you. From the beginning..less you be
Of another belief..and for sure..where
Fear and trembling..must be conquiered.
But too. Surely
As the measure of a angel is the measure of a man..i measure that of this angel..within as to be only love and it fits perfectly. With all of fathers attributes..
And then. The cock crows and the tree bows and the dog comes..
So who then is that angel..
Though i mean not to take..
That of naravana or heaven..or that of the pillars of enlightenment away..
As you are at and indeed in levels of such a journey..
Yet there be fires..cast..
After all..
He gives us.
This Grace..to know him.
And where he resides..
Even though…yet he rises him.
And i bow at both his grace
And wisdom..
And cry tears for Mary
And bleed for Christ..
Just as my father does.
As man kind..didnt realise..when we die
We really dont..
And as sons of man. We therefore had no place to lay our heads. . so this light from within..grants us this knowledged..
And then being sons of god..
We dont die. Were celestial beings.
..
But being as such. Jesus also showed us
Its dangerous to teach another faith..and
Perhaps. Theyll kill you.
So that also being said..
Let the holy man still be holy and let the righteous man be righteous..
And …
Therefore.
Becareful. Out there..
But its sure is good to see Thomas writtings..and so many of you are so inlightened..im so pleased..
And though i see alot of negativity aswell
Im glad you made it to here..you are seeking..and thats cool..
And these monkey suits..are really just for now..and hold on..
Theres going to be a day..
Back to the garden in paridice..and we will all know where to lay our heads.
It just takes time..but light travels pretty fast..
And if you think about it..we live here for such a small period of time..and father has had eternty to think about what he is doing..and if we found the answer in just a short time..will be alright and so will your brother and sisters..So really
How smart do you think father is..
So dont worry…
And for now i reach with my hands .to give aid..to the needy..and i serve all fathers children..
Just as he serves us..
So I send my love..and fill his heart..
Sometime i cry.
To answer ART..verse 30
Well irishmen in the pub . really dont care.
…but many faiths…have many Gods.
Christians have.. i am..
Or Abba
At least i hope they understand that
And where two become one.
Which is the reality..of our existence.
One spirit one person.
Father being..the one within.
I am there.
In that of profetic..doctrine..
And that he has a fire to light..
If then i stood before the mighty dragon..
I would of had no chance at all
With out him..
And he writes..
What if it were already kindled..or more so he wished it was already kindled.
Sometimes we have no idea of the heavenly rules..
But who sent him..was not the dragon.
If you have Christ living inside of you, you have been resurrected and can easily understand these sayings. Do you think it easy to find the Kingdom? Only if you fast from the world and seek it with your whole being will you find it.
NUMBER 22 IN THE SAYINGS–IT IS A PARABLE–THE MISSING KEY—WHEN YOU APPLY THIS PARABLE TO YOUR WORLD–THE KNOWLEDGE WILL APPEAR–YOU WILL FIND A IMAGE OF A PERSON IN EVERYTHING–BUT ONE IMAGE MAY BE A PART OF ANOTHER IMAGE–THIS IS WHY U CANT SEE IT–FOLLOW THE SEPARATION POINTS—YOU ARE BORN BLIND–SEE WHAT IS IN FRONT OF YOU–AT FIRST YOU WILL BE DISTURBED–THEN YOU WILL MARVEL
What are “the separation points” Sam? The edges the my visual field from each eye (the stitch line in 360 camera parlance)? Tell us more, please.
If you have Christ dwelling inside you, the Lord will give you discernment. “he who has an ear, let him hear…”
I agree with Bryndis.
The gnostic interests make this gospel less credible… believers should be very careful. There were other pseudo gospels around as The Way was spreading. Paul warns the believers to be wary of false gospels and so should we.
The difference is that all those who identify themselves as experiencing Christ in the now, know the truth of what they see, and they say that Thomas told the truth. However for some reason those who do not identify themselves as experiencing Christ in the now, seem to imagine that the humble follower to take the place of Jesus should be Peter and his Roman palace, rather than the obscure and unknown Justin the Just. It does not seem like it should confuse, yet the people of the world always love the opposite of the truth.
I think that the big problem with the Gospel of Thomas is that it suggests that we can be saved through knowing something rather than through faith in Jesus. I would not recommend it to someone who has faith in Jesus but to the atheists, agnostics, scientists (who may overlap) it may be very helpful. I was a science loving atheist. Thomas’s gospel helps me to see how Jesus’s message could be true and makes me want to have faith in him. How do we make the two become one?
The message is definitely that we can be “saved by knowing something”. The only faith we need in Jesus is the faith to know that what he says is true!
No one is going to die! We merely misunderstand the nature of our existence.
The “two becoming one” does not mean a man and woman becoming one by marriage but by the spirit entering into the newly born baby to become a single, conscious and sentient human being.
Although the body will die in due course, when it does, the spirit will pass back into the home world to continue it’s existence.
Jesus Said: “Even though you die, yet shall you live!”
One reason the Gospel of Thomas did not make it into the Bible was because the resurrection was preferred by the composers of the Bible rather than the Transmigration of the Soul concept, which was a well accepted principle in Jesus’ time
He says that we all start in Heaven by being born into the “new world” which is all around us and when we die, the spirit returns there.
Thomas 18: The disciples asked Jesus when their end would be and he replied:
Have you therefore discovered the beginning? For where the beginning is, there will be the end. Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning.: He will know the end and will not experience death
These sayings are illogically put together. Reading them is dissonance at its worst. I appreciate the fact that these are recovered texts, but they are antithetical to the canonical Gospels…
It seems to me they are from a drunkard who wished in a moment of sobriety he were a disciple of Jesus the Christ… May be he had the opportunity, like Nicodemus, but rejected it for the cares of the world…
May God grant solace to this lost soul!
Perhaps the people of the world have difficulty in seeing the truth. One would imagine that the entire purpose of Christ coming to show people the way would be a clue that they had difficulty seeing the truth, or he would not have needed to come, but these are the kinds of details that pass straight over your head when you spend too long wondering about what lovely things can be eaten for dinner, or if there is anything good on the telly. Rather than judging the words based upon their dissonance with the Roman Government’s approved first century truncated edit, perhaps contemplation, and logic would be better tools than faith, just in this one instance.
Remove the logs from your eyes pastor and you will see the truth. I and my Father are one. And know this. Your physical body is the Soul. The spirit returns to the Father who gave it. We’re but vessels that contain that spirit of consciousness.
There is more to the story of Nicodemus than his appointment with Jesus at night. He was at the cross, he was at the tomb–the rest is yet to be learned.
Hi there. My understanding is that the Gospel of Thomas has a large chunk of the sayings, roughly half of it, that are present in the four canonical gospels of the new testament. If so, it would have been helpful if these texts above were highlighted so that readers could compare the writings to the canonized writings of the Bible. Will it be possible if someone could point out these sayings, I’d really appreciate any form of help, thanks.
(2) And anathema is the person whom a lion will eat and the lion will become human.”
– IS THIS WHAT YOU MEAN IS AN ALIEN?? WHY SHOULD WE WORSHIP THAT CREATURE?? GOD MADE ME ACCORDING TO HIS IMAGE I SHOULD WORSHIP “JESUS CHRIST”!! IT’S TUME FOR YOU TO WAKE UP TO TGE TRUTH!! THE CREATOR OF THE HEAVENS AND EARTH IS OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.FOR YOUR INFORMATION YOU BETTER READ A LOT ABOUT BIBLE AND UNDERSTAND AND ANALYZE WHAT GOD SAY’S TO US!! HE’S COMING SOON! AND YOU MUST PREPARE YOURSELF!!
Most things have multiple meanings. What I gained from this, is that when one eats another creature, one takes on something of its essence. So if you eat beef you become more docile and unenlightened. If you eat pork you become greedier. I considered this passage might be related to that phenomenon, in that if you were to eat a Lion, you would take on some of the character of the Lion, and the Lion likewise would take on some of the character of whatever it ate. The effect is clearly more pronounced to those who are sensitive to it, and especially at times of high energy such as now. Those of you in this mind state should be cautious. Eating little is the best. Digestion in general does not seem comfortable for me. We have been too well trained for consumption as an economic driver.
It is egyptian symbology. Having the lion (sechmeth) as a head (being on top) means power out of control. Having a human head means power in an intelligent and cortolled manner. The sphinx is a symbol for that. Got that impulse by the documetary “Die Rätsel der Sphinx Doku über die Sphinx Teil 3” (sry, german)
In the Bible you will find a lot of macroeconomics, systems theory and conceptualisation, psychoanalysis, astronomy, calendars and so on. Who has jet not known that Jesus, “walking” over the water, is actually the sun? If so, watch Zeitgeist the Movie (fist episode). In other context one could understand God, the creator of (our presonal) world, as actually being the mind, reconstructing reality from our senses (this realness, each of us with our individual one, is pure mind, illusion, maya, thoughts, numbers – whatever you want to call it, and is as different from actual reality as a map is from the landscape). Lucifer being the intellect and Jesus, the son of God, is actually consciousness, emerging from an increasingly complex self-organised system (mind, God). Satan, the fallen angel, the subconcious mind, the “it” needing lucifer to come into existance, since it takes a conscious intention to harm someone, to do something truly evil (satanic).
When it comes to religion, basically think of what were the most profound needs for human civilisation? Calendar (astronomical observations), creating a stable society based on the division of labour, wealth distribution and in particular money. Every aspect you’ll find allegorically paraphrased and of course a lot of mental manipulation and creation of unspecific fear as a central instrument of power of all times. Just look for the parallels of today capitalism and catholizism. Both need the concepts of guilt and atonement as a bases ( nowaday you would call it credit and debt). Same mechanics, same thing basically. The world of God is our imagination. Ofcourse christianity assimilated alot of different cults and ritualized knowledge. So it inclueds alot of pilisopic conctes and rites ofer a wide period of time, at least since gilgamesh.
Religion has not nesessarily to be beliefed to work. Its allegorical, sybmolical concepts bypass the conciousness and acts directly upon the subconcious. Just like what one would describe as “predictive programming” nowadays. Your mind gets intruduced to certain concepts, like that of the master and servant, or guil and atonement. There are good and bad things with that. Bsically religion is a absolute need. But it can be used to manipulate the sheeple. Best example might be the movie “Clockwork Orange” from Kubrick. In the worst case everyone, even the Pharisees, forget about the true meaning (which is pure rational yet abstract) and start to understand it literally (See this gosphel nr. 39).
The exodus of the Israelites is, I think, rather the transition from primitive socialism (Egypt) to the gold-based monetary system. Much of the Torah deals with economic issues, such as bankruptcy law. Creation of the world could at different plasces also be understood the transition from hunter ander gatherers to a society based on the division of labour, whose mechanisms were devised by the mind (God). Jet all have failed till today (still not the right messia – system conceptuation).
Wish you all the best, stay concious and may god and in particular jesus be always with you.
There are two manuscripts of this gospel and they are not the same. This one from the Nag Hammadi manuscript is not as old as the Coptic version. The Copic was has not all survived. This one has sayings that seem to go against the main focus of Jesus teaching, to love one’s neighbour as one selves. It also seems to have some gnostic interests.
I would not be to quick to say that those are the true words if Jesus.
Jesus was not just born as an enlightened teacher. He had to grow and become who he was. Thomas was with him during the time when he was still becoming complete. His words are true, but they show things that cannot be seen in the cleaned up for public consumption and publishing version. Never expect the notes of a writer to be the same high quality as the state approved published version.
JESUS SAYS
WHOEVER FINDS THE MEANING OF THESE WORDS WILL NOT TASTE DEATH WHY WOULD HE SAY
THAT.
IS TO TASTE DEATH NOT APART OF LIVING ?
As the inner light grows to full strength, it bursts out beyond the limits of the physical body. Once it is fully integrated with the energy that is outside the physical body, the inner body of light becomes part of all. Then the body itself is more like a faucet, than a permanent residence. The body will be better preserved, but when it does go, it makes no difference to the light.
Intellectual death from the new, sophisticated manipulation system (guiltiness cult), propably introduced by the romans or ethen the jews, to escape the violence and fear-based system of the Romans and to create a mental escape from this spiritual prison. Maybe also monetray death. Not sure which is more proper.
Just look at the dozens of correlations to astronomy. The sun, having 3 days the same hight over the horizon around christmas before it starts to travel back to the equator (rebirth afer 3 days and triumph over the night – the evil). The exact same plot of jesus birth and the virgin was alredy present in egypt (Moses) and so many others. Jesus, walking over the water…come on…it’s the sun! The gods get humanised, just as in egypt with The cross with the circle in the middle. its the circle of the zodiac, with the axis being the noth and south turning circles as well as the equator and the sun in the middle.
Jesus was most probyply a genious guy, when reading these texts i think also autistic. He might had a lot insight and unerstanding of psycology and the inner workings of mind as well as politcs and econimics. Most probably he was not a single guy. Maybe something like Attack today. The romans used a trick, disqualifing hin from a genious, potential revoluzer, to a miracle-working magical uncle. You would call that framing or poisening the fountain today. A psycological trick, not done for the first time, to discredid opposition.
These things are spiritual
Modern, post 17th Century interpretations of thr 1611 KJV Bible is in itself a dangerous platform of “interpretation-s. The Holy Bible has been reduced to skim milk by too many splitting hairs of every word of God and Jesus. To fit so called modern societies. Be aware of how you can stray . What applies in 30 AD applies just as well for all times.
Hello, a little critic on you’re logion 4.
“Lord, there are many around the well, but there is nothing in the .”
should be
“Lord, there are many standing around the well, but there is no one inside the well”
the way you translate it, the second part of the logion doesn’t correlate with the first properly. the word nothing isn’t quite right. the translation I’ve heard is “lord there are many standing about the well, but no one… IN the well.” I understand the meaning of that. The awareness of the kingdom here and now and that a part of you deep within is that. It’s tat tvam asi. It’s he you has seen me has seen the father. get with now. get IN the well. Don’t stand about waiting for it, thinking it’s some goodie at the end of the line. It’s always here. Eternal. okay I’m done
Thank you. That is a good interpretation. The one I had taken is that one must be empty in order to find the centre so that you could become filled with God. Jesus said many things which could be taken by many people in many different ways. Perfect expression. We hear what we are supposed to. I am glad I was supposed to also be helped by you.
I would like to understand more about the light and the kingdom. I so much need to understand more. Cause I would like to put it in my pathway.
Verse 55, without the context of verse 101, can be easily misinterpreted to hate your father and mother to become a disciple of jesus !!! but then throughout the Gospel – it is promoted that we turn 2 into 1 and not further separate from each other. Is this not a contradiction on the highest level?
Verse 114 can be easily misinterpreted to promote women having transgender operations to become a man
That’s not what it means, The answer is in the text that precedes it, I won’t explain it because I could be wrong, However woman is of man.
You would have to have some fascinating misconceptions about 1st century Galilee to reach that particular conclusion. I suppose if transgender operations remained popular long enough that 0AD and 2020AD were hard to tell apart, then it might lead to that conclusion, but if they have been fashionable for that long, I doubt it will create any existential conflicts for anyone. They will clearly not be the same type of being as we are.
I really enjoyed the reading and most of it I will try to adhere to. The lost words are still lost too many and the Bible was written in such a fashion as not to take away or add to. I just wish I could read it in the language it was written in. that would be so enlightening. Thanks for the publishing of this old text as it will no doubt add to my walk with God.
The Bible was not written in such a fashion that nothing could be added or taken away. It was originally far greater than four gospels, but they chose four for its significance. The four corners. So as to strengthen it. Therefore they kept the gospels that were deemed most appropriate to see that God’s work, Jesus great work, would come to fruition. It is a bit Machiavellian, but it was originally written as an exercise in neurolinguistic programming. So the translation from Latin to English has damaged its efficacy far more than adding in any of the lost gospels or additional sources ever could have done. Having said that, I am not entirely sure I would trust a Bible that was not in Coptic. Seems a bit suspicious if it is in Latin. It is a bit like if all future accounts of Donald Trump’s views on the covid virus were all the Chinese versions. You’d have to wonder if perhaps an English language version might not be more generous.
Jesus said that after he resurrected he would not need to speak in parables to his disciples anymore. Why is this gospel of Thomas still being communicated in parables?
I would imagine this would be before he was resurrected. The unusual things that are said a lot of the time, are very much like the ways a person expresses themselves as they are going through the process of awakening. Thomas was a very close friend to Jesus, one of the closest because he had a special connection. For this reason he saw the side of Jesus that was not yet fully polished. He also got to see the mischievous side too. Jesus was definitely someone who had a good sense of humour. Obviously he would have the perfect sense of humour. I wonder if his tale of the kingdom of heaven being like a woman who takes yeast to make full loaves, might not be, such a tasteful boob joke that no one has got it till now.
To those that say “nay”, for that is your answer. To understand the words and apply them to your path, you are surely heading home. Love one another as He loves us. Give from your heart and not your head. No darkness will enter in the gate. If you will not sup here, why do you think you will there. Walk in the light, your path is clear.
it sounds like the people who comment above want to pick and choose what they like or what fits in with their current distorted thinking. If you pick one piece to believe you must believe it all if you think it has anything to so with biblical times, whenever that was. As for me it is al a big fairy tale but one that has made some people lots of money
I have to point out a glaring flaw in your logic. Simply because you believe something about biblical times does not necessarily mean you have to believe all things about biblical times. Take these two statements: Jesus was nailed to a cross; and, McDonald’s sold out of burgers because the crowds that came to see were so huge. Both statements are about the same day. Only one of them is one that must be believed. The other, can just be used for advertising purposes. You just ca’t stop people making money out of fairy tales. For many people, that is The fairly tale ending.
Perhaps, those of us who have come across this website have done so because we are truly “seeking”. What if we were to simply stop analysing the actual wording of this gospel and the other gospels, and stop trying to critique all the various translations from the confines of our human brain, and try harder and harder to find repose, and quietly look within ourselves. Maybe then the conditions will be right to allow us to better understand what we need to know…….. Does it really matter which group of people claim they have the correct translation? Should we waste time arguing about this? Perhaps Jesus says is simply guiding us to make time to be still enough to look within and hear from God directly…..
So far this year, I have only seen one mistake that an Elizabeth has made, it seems to me that you are almost always right. I love that you have totally got this so much better than any of the rest of us. It is a bit more zen. I can imagine a spiritual gathering, with all people discussing the road to God, then in walks Elizabeth, shouts Shut Up, and all awaken.
I am uncertain of the validity of the translation of the Gospel of Thomas. While some of it sheds light upon who we are and of whom we belong, it is lacking the fruits of the Spirit. There is no love within the logic driven words. It is translated in such a way as to contradict too many things. I understand most of it, but it seems written with a bitter spirit. I will glean what i can from it and take what lines up with Scripture. Use discernment and the Full Armor when reading and gleaning.
The Nicean Councisl dicated the doctrine of the early church. Knowing what we know about people in position of power today, do manipulation and control seem like pervasive themes? Fear keeps people in line, if you pay attention, he’s saying that people are reincarnated and that the kingdom of God is here on earth. Much different than the “you’ll get yours when you die” theme thats both prevalent and extremely useful for the ultra-wealthy, as it always has been.
I don’t believe the Gospel of Thomas it is contrary to the basic teachings of the Bible whic ch believes in the virgin birth of Jesus His life the many healings , the casting out of demons, the suffering up to and through His crusifiction, His resurrection and assention into heaven and to be seated at the right hand of God. These ar my beliefs the Gospel of John 3:16 For God so love the world that He gave His only begaton Son that who so ever believed in Him should not parish but have ever lasting life. Amen
I agree with you on the facts as you have stated them, but I am not sure of your logic for disbelieving Thomas. You say you do not believe the things Thomas says because they appear to be contrary to the idea of virgins giving birth, people healing by touching, casting out demons, resurrecting, and ascending to heaven. I have to ask, would Thomas have been more believable if he had said that Jesus was accompanied everywhere by a giant white rabbit called Harvey, and would often leap over tall buildings? That seems to be less contrary to the things you mention, yet it does not seem more believable. Don’t worry about whether the poor and ill remembered Thomas is contrary to the State approved official publication as permitted by the powers that be. That contrariness is irrelevant to what is in our hearts.
(50) Jesus says:
(1) “If they say to you: ‘Where do you come from?’ (then) say to them: ‘We have come from the light, the place where the light has come into being by itself, has established [itself] and has appeared in their image.’
(2) If they say to you: ‘Is it you?’ (then) say: ‘We are his children, and we are the elect of the living Father.’
(3) If they ask you: ‘What is the sign of your Father among you?’ (then) say to them: ‘It is movement and repose.’”
So the sign of the Father among them (or an individual) isn’t Holiness and righteousness, as the Old Testament and the New testament proclaim: but rather movement and repose”? Ha, ha, ha, what a bunch of garbage this is.
A five year old should be able to see how pathetically phony this is.
Who ever wrote this dribble threw in enough of what is written in Mathew, Luke Mark and John to make is seem as if it were real: what a hoax, but that’s the way it is with all the false religions (such even as Christianity) they throw in enough scripture to make it appear real, then go off on their own tangents = a false religion.
If you stopped moving and reposing your lungs you would be dead in about ten minutes. All in nature is movement and repose. The ignorant are able to sit in one place and do nothing as their body rots, or they are able to work hard when their body is worn and needs rest. This is not the will of God. This is a will against nature, and therefore against God. The nature of Jesus and his disciples is they were perfectly in tune with the world, and perfectly in tune with their own cycles of nature. You could recognise them because if God told them to move, they would move, but if God told them to stop, they would stop. This is not how people who are not with Christ act. That is the point that is being made. Clearly it would take far more than a five year old’s comprehension to see this, because I am afraid you missed it. If you remove all that is of Mathew, Luke, Mark and John, then you find that what is left is the real treasury that will show you not just what Jesus said, but will give you specific instructions on how to reach the kingdom of heaven. Ask those who have found it. There are several commenting here. They are often recognised by their complete failure to recognise standardised spelling and grammar. It is a Luciferian trait. The Earth has a lot of, not exactly visitors, but not exactly the usual crowd. If you have been waiting for a significant Biblical event, then 2021 is waiting just a touch too long.
Movement and repose are the tools of the son of man. Is same as working out with dynamic and static exercise.
I’m not understanding why “you” are changing key words. I wouldn’t follow this’ he never said you will be king! What I have learned is people want to put their bias marks on things or in must cases mis-lead others. Always be honest, it goes along way in righteousness. No disrespect; this is my opinion only!.
In reading all these texts, they are a compilation of what already exists within context in the Bible. Any missing neuences in translation can be accessed in a lexicon that I have. The problem with most Christian persuasions, the followers do not wish to make a complete and utter surrender to the Holy Spirit which is the seal of our salvation. Through the Holy Spirit we are told that we can renew our mind. With this renewed mind Christ said that the kingdom ofGod lives within us. The book of Thomas makes no new revelations but for a deep Biblical scholar all these alternate meanings are considered and weighed up against alternate understanding. I agree most Christians do not really understand the reality of the Kingdom of God within them. However, this does not presuppose that this power originates within us but this power is from God Himself through surrender to the Holy Spirit.
Lack of Christian science on the nature of the light does indeed not presuppose it comes from within. Thomas however stating that Jesus says it does, directly states it comes from within. The nature of the light is the electricity that powers our nervous systems. The nerve signals that tell us what sensations we receive from the outside world, and the signals we use to trigger our muscles. As the energy gets higher within us, and we become better able to generate our own energy, and to draw in energy from without, it approaches a point where the brain becomes saturated with electricity, causing a vast number of lateral connections. This means that whatever you need to know, your chances of hitting the correct thought have just gone up by a massive amount. It also means that you are taking in far more sensory data, and it also means that your body is dealing far more efficiently with all the signals telling it what needs repair and reconstruction, and what nutrients are needed to make that possible. Once the energy has saturated body and brain, it then spills out and you connect with Eden, then you have the energy within and the energy without, but you are not going to be able to climb out of that hole by sitting there doing nothing. Once you are out, Eden can hold you, but you have to make the effort first.
It would be nice if there were references included telling where these words of Jesus are located in the Bible.
All these words and saying are found in the Bible as well, but they are shattered or implemented in several examples and stories. Open your eyes and read the bible closely and you will find them.
Thanks for this contribution to revealing the truth. The first comment is ridiculous and is written by one of those fanaticis who is blind to the truth, those who maintain that every letter in the KJV is absolut true (sorry to say, they live in darkness). Every person with the slightest resemblance of a brain will understand how wrong it is… so in some way it is not of any use to argue with them, as Jesus said himself, that it is no use to throw the pearls for the pigs (my aunt used to say that “if you send a pig to the university, it will still be a pig when it returns).
Jesus said also things as that we should see with our inner eye and similarly, that we shall listen with our inner ear. And likewise that, when we make the internal the same as the external, we will enter the kingdom. He was not talking about a relative future, but about here and now, meaning that the kingdom is available to us when we choose the only one right master, which is the higher Self, in contradiction to the constructed mind, a confined consciousness. He said: “You can’t serve two masters, you have to choose one of them (the mind or the higher Self; as long as we give our mind, the psychological part of it, in contradiction to the practical part, our attention, we will live in a kind of hellish reality, meaning that we serve the lower side of ourselves; as C.G. Jung said: as long as we live in a lower form of consciousness, we will continue to project our mind on the world, which means that we will live in a fragmented world, the opposite to a united world.
The most enlightened persons live in accordance to the will of God (John of the Cross, Francis of Assisi and so many others of the sages) and are the most tremendous contributor’s to a world in peace (not in pieces; the world emanating from minds who are totally absorbed by the identification with themselves as objects = the body).
Jesus was sometimes frustrated about the fact that people come into this world and seems to leave it without any progression. I met some people during my life who, in spite of their age (about 90 years old) said that they never had thought about God; they were totally absorbed by the external world and all the events going on.
Many of the sayings, according to the gospel of Thomas are difficult to understand, but you have to consider why Jesus couldn’t explain things of the utmost importance for developing as humans, which will be totally clear when you understand what Jesus said to Thomas, that he no longer was his disciple, which was an indication that he got (understood) his teaching, and transgressed to a higher understanding; enlightenment. The other disciples didn’t understand what he was saying and asked Thomas what he said. Thomas answered that he couldn’t tell them, because if he did, they would pick up stones and kill him (this is exactly the reason why Jesus was killed, because the pharisees couldn’t understand what Jesus meant by: I and my father are one, as little as they could understand that he said: “I am before Abraham”, indicating that he was before the space- and time continuum).
The time seems to be mature for the finding of this gospel, since we live in a time when we don’t kill people (anyway in the west), if they would have a contradicting opinion to the collective assumptions of what is the truth. This seems also to be the reason to why the gospel of Thomas was found in Nag Hammadi, after been hidden in the sand for about 2000 years. Let’s say that many people had been witnessing an accident and some people in an authoritative position decided that only some of the witnesses was allowed to tell their “story” because of some subjective measurement. Would we accept this in our so called free society of today, if we of some reason discovered what they had done? No, we wouldn’t! So, why should we trust King James decision to make the choices of what was relevant or not.
We still have so much to learn from what is still not revealed and hidden to us (because Jesus had to speak in parables). let us be honest and humble about this fact.
For the first time in history we could enjoy the truth in the totality of the scriptures and eventually become enlightened, if we make the choice to serve the only one, and true master, which is not the ego or psychological identification with our mind (our past and future; in opposition to the now).
I already understand a lot of what the gospel of Thomas is saying, but I please, continue to deliver explanations to how to understand the hidden meanings! (for me, but even for all who are true seekers).
Erik Norberg
Thank you, your information has been most helpful! Unfortunately, I can’t understand a thing written by Thomas. Attempted commentaries by line or by phrase would help.
What is wrong with you you are not teaching GODs word with your translation you are in sin you are changing the word of the Lord. KJV is the last true translation of the word.. shame on you. This is not the Lord word it is yours and your wrong.
Not understanding the contradictions . The Gospels make absolutely no sense at all. How can anyone believe something they don’t understand ?
Wow!!! I have found the Kingdom, the real Kingdom. It is already here and available. I can say 100 percent that these teaching come from Jesus Himself because I have figured out the answer to 5 of them, and was able to experience the Kingdom.
Interesting readings, we should take into consideration that Jesus was in is childhood years during these conversations…
There is no sin. We must hate our father and mothers belief systems of slavery and embrace that we r gods. We r the kingdom of heaven. Have ears to hear or remain the same. The well is deeper than we believe. deep is where the purest water comes from.
I believe that “the Gospel of Thomas clear show Jesus Christ was a enlighten Buddha
I believe that “the Gospel of Thomas” is a collection of poetic writings that are Christian-based. I do not believe Thomas wrote this. I believe was someone that was a Christian because some of the lines sound just like little snippets from the canonized Bible. 90% of this “gospel” is just a shorter version of other Scriptures. I think it’s wrong for every that was ever written in the middle east that mentions anything about Jesus Christ that it has to be some kind of mystery or a new revelation. Jesus Christ does live inside of us and around us because of his Holy Spirit that dwells within the believer. A nonbeliever does not have this. I do think that we need to investigate and read other literature that is connecting to Christianity in general. We have to keep literature in its proper context, you can’t just read this and go crazy with what it says. It is very reckless to just read some writing and believe right away it comes from a spiritual source that comes from God, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit. “The Gospel of Thomas” was supposedly written about 200 – 400 years after Christ. There are many Gnostic Gospels that don’t ever add up or lined up with anything related to Judeo Christian believe as a canonized biblical text. I believe only the book of Enoch is the closest known Gnostic writings that I believe could be canonized. Finally, if you read the canonized Bible it tells you what Christ was all about every entire point of the canonized Bible was for people to trust that Jesus Christ is there personal Lord and Savior and that if they is ways, they will be filled with the Holy Spirit that will guide you through a world of sin and distraction. The kingdom of God is not on earth. Never was and never will be until Jesus comes back on the day of judgment. So is there a degree of mystical or mysterious teachings within the canonized Bible. My answer would be, yes, there are many mysteries within the belief in Jesus Christ and again he does live inside of you and you will do the work of the kingdom of God by if you look around you can tell this is not what God intended us to live in. I read this for face value and that’s it. I think the beautiful and interesting poetic sayings, it’s okay to read them if your faith is really strong. If you’re a new Christian I would stay away from reading Gnostic writings. But I do believe God is inside us and all around us when we accept him as our personal Lord and Savior. But if you don’t accept that that I don’t know how you could even have Jesus or God remotely inside of you have around your Christian life.
I pray that the question of JESUS CHRIST exists and or existed will forever stop.
look inwards to ones heart and find peace be one with yourselves and each other.Do not judge or speak harsh words. we are one.
Lisa and Dina, woe is the person that judges their brothers and sisters for things they do not understand!!!
First off to Dena who is metaphorically crazy wrong, and it’s obvious you haven’t read the bible b/ c there is No gospel of Thomas. And the bible clearly states that we are Not to Add or take away from the original text of God’s word. So as these “humans ” said in the first place, it was not canonized. Therefore, it is Not part of the True and living bible. And just so you know Dena, you are in for a Huge surprise when you pass from this world into the next. It is absolutely literal. After you die you will see how literal it is, but then it will be too late.
Hi there,
I read this Gospel and literally found it helpful to know the hidden things in the Bible (refering to the teachings to Thomas). I found a compilation of books in (The lost books of bible). There are so many Gospel and testament in it. Moreover if you read this book of Thomas, you will find most of the teachings in the canonized Bible (the one we use in the modern world). Hence we cannot say that these are not Jesus’s words in this book. Also if you read 2nd Timothy 3:16, it says – “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”. It clearly says that “All Scripture Is Given By Inspiration Of God.
Moreover it does not shake our Faith but gives an insight of the teachings of Jesus in more elaborated way, which is not covered in the Bible.
These are kabbalistic words.
Is it a coincidence that there are 114 Suras in the Quran?
No significant study has been undertaken on this but given that many Quranic based beliefs match gnostic ideas about the nature of Jesus there are various links between the two. The Nag Hammadi copy of the Thomas text was hidden around 367AD and it would seem unusual if the beliefs it contains did not develop among community’s around Egypt and Arabia in contrast to Roman Christianity and as legend states that Muhammad was taught by his Christian uncle who most likely did not hold to later Christian post Nicene views that therefore the mystical and alternative attribution of the number 114 carried over between the two.
First, I adore the comments by Paul, Dr and Art. I recognize them as Tribe members. 😉
Secondly … to those of you who, like most Christians, are insisting upon taking these, or any scripture, as literal — when they are written as *metaphoric* … thou art off and running in the asinine adventures of wildly missing the point. 😉 How uber-goofy to ascribe literalism to that which was *intended* to be metaphorical.
Silly-messy-adorable humans. 😉
said: “When you undress without being ashamed and take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample on them, then you will see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid.” (Thom 37:1-3).
Means. That when we are able to drop out natural selves. When we can shed the egos that comes alone with this meat suit of skin without cares like the little children, we will come in touch with the divine that is/was placed in us since the beginning (before you were in the womb I knew you) our spirit selves the you will see that we are all children of GOD.
It seems to be saying that in searching for the truth, you’ll first be dismayed because you realize that the physical body will die. But then you’ll be amazed, because you realize there is another body, that has an image of a body, but yet neither female nor male, which he also refers to as “light”.
This body does not die and you’ll never taste death. This “light” body also can become one with another “light” body.
Coming to this world is like a test, like shoving a sword into the wall before using it.
Those who focus on the afterlife should instead focus on their test here, or they will find the jar empty, and that they missed the whole point.
As such, you are just a passerby here.
An enlightened person understands what the sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas mean. An enlightened person is a spiritually alive or awakened person and as such, has direct, personal experience of this wisdom, just as Jesus did. The reason this gospel was rejected was because those who decided which gospels were to be included in the bible did not understand these statements which Jesus reserved for his inner circle. If you’ve been fed spiritual ‘milk’ the whole of your religious life, obviously your stomach will reject the ‘meat’. In other words, you are unable to accept what if not familiar. It is significant that Thomas simply quoted Jesus, leaving the story-telling for the other gospel writers. The Gospel of Thomas is for those only interested in the truth whereas the other gospels are for those less spiritually mature who don’t have ears to hear and eyes to see the truth.
Beloved Ones,
The following link will take you to a place beyond understanding. I present you now with one of the two holy sources of OUR era: the Ra Material. The link which follows is geared in the direction of the present discussion: when Yeshua says “Let him who hath ears hear”, what is being sounded ?
http://www.lawofone.info/results.php?c=Harvest
Whether Thomas is more or less authentic than the Bible we surely cannot know, since no videos remain from the first century. Who did what, with what and to whom, we will surely never know and to me it matters not at all. Perhaps if it seems to matter one is looking in the wrong place. Did Shakespeare write Shakespeare? Does it matter? Either way it is truth.
I find Thomas the most charming and insightful Gospel. With wry wit and savage irony, it suggests a wicked sense of humour and intelligence Jesus must have had, in contrast to the sometimes insipid and credulous Jesus of the canon.
The key difference is that whilst both are intended to be read ALLEGORICALLY, the canon contains a narrative purporting to be the life of Jesus. Much of the canon is ‘motherhood’ moral truisms that far pre-date Jesus. For this reason, intuitively, I suspect the canon is actually much more corrupted since it had an an agenda, i.e. to push the divinity of Jesus, (something clearly his family and many others did not believe.) Conversely, Thomas, existed in a time capsule, and is timeless unvarnished, unpretentious truth if read rich metaphorically. It is to the listener that music either sounds moving or not, no music critic can make you like it. Thomas is a book of insightful jokes which ruthlessly reveal truth. They work! If people don’t find a joke funny or sad or moving in some way, either they don’t get the joke or its a poor joke, it does not matter that “the three Irishmen in a pub….” never existed.
All except verse 30. I don’t get it. Please post the answer herein you do!
Doubting Thomas is all im hearing. If your thinking clearly and truly putting Christ first in your life,
you would find these passages helpful to the advancement of your soal into the light.
There will always be some doubt as to the origin of these sayings actually coming directly from Christs’ mouth to our ears. Thomas was the last of Gods followers to admit what He had witnessed was actually the truth the light and the way.
So please cut the man some slack.
Then again I’m a firm believer that Mary Magdalin was Jesus Christs’ most important confidant as he was often seen walking alone with Her while the others followed at a distance.
Lets not forget the hierarchy of the Catholic church denied these sayings of Thomas Gospels’ out right. For me knowing the church rejected these sayings gives them even more power of truth. Remember this: split a piece of wood and Christ is there and lift a stone and he is there as well.
This hole premis undermines the physical church and that means no money for them. If you take away their money their bank fails and all their buildings and churches fail.
If I recall correctly John the Baptist is the most important to Christ and He had no Cathedral to perform His baptisms in. Unless they served wild honey and locusts for dinner and gunnie sacks for clothing. John the Baptist lived and served Christ in the wild which in my mind
Is the true church of the living God.
Peter John
im not a scholar, i am a believer in jesus (yeshua) whoever interpreted name you wish to use. and i dont seek to discredit the fact that someone dug up an artifact. i haven’t read all the Gnostic text but it seems to me that the we have a way of assuming we knew what the writers thought and meant that’s not very healthy to understanding Gods will or historical reality. you could say this writing contains text from the canonized bible so that means the bible must have used these stories in the accepted gospel and so the “Bible” clearly borrowed things, or you can say well were reading pages of text that tell what someone said and did (jesus). and we should realize that just like today things are recorded falsely all the time.. intentionally to discredit people, and in honest mistakes so its easy to jump to one side or the other. (aha his flowers didnt believe jesus was divine!) see its here in this page from the year so and so the bibles wrong!
if you think that you should realize that there were and are millions of people that made those accusations and greatly benefited from them. Jewish priests, did everything including having the romans crucify jesus to prove he was mortal and get him out of there hair.
if you read the apocrypha and question everything you knew. remember if jesus was just a mere man he would have been insane to challenge the authority of the jewish priests and roman governors. a certain death sentence. people rarely do things that arent beneficial to themselves, why get killed for nothing? the romans didn’t even want to kill him he was announced innocent. the crowd urged by the priests condemned him.
so my opinion read everything you can and when things dont match your belief accept that they were written by someone about something for some reason at some point in time and unless its annotated with context i will never truly know the writers intent or validity of the statements. and if i say this means or proves …. its an opinion and opinions are not facts and they shouldn’t be universally accepted or taught as facts…. like say macro Evolution until i see a monkey turn into a dude its still a theory with as many holes as scientist say the bible has. and yes christianity is not a fact but i say its not taught as one. its a belief so idk why people get so worked up over disproving it. if they dont believe it why waste your time looking for evidence to discredit something you “know is false” you know this is turning into a rant lol but it really annoys me when scientist of all subjects dont use the scientific method to process the facts they find and try to use the facts to prove or disprove their own opinion that is un-scholarly and only adds to the growing number of universally accepted theories that cant be proven and are used to create a entirely new set of theories and then call everyone that opposes that theory incompetent or idiots that is how people end up thinking the earth is flat for a thousand years.
Just because we don’t understand something, doesn’t mean it isn’t genuine. No living person can possibly know the truth just from listening to another, yet all religions proclaim to know truth from their written word, written by another. It is written everywhere, and in all faiths, “Seek and you shall find.” There is tremendous, inconcievable wisdom hidden in the Gospel of Thomas, be worthy and it will bestow you. After all, “These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down.”
20 Years ago an imminent Baptist theologian told me to read the Nag Hammedi documents. After having attended several seminars and heard scholars of different denominations speak, I saw the Gospel of Thomas is accepted as authoritative by textural scholars of all Judeo-Christian persuasions. It informs the text.
?Re: Robb’s comment about Roman Catholics. “They understand only what they learned – from the “church” as a child.” That is quite a generality. I am 82, and yes I was taught what Catholicism meant as a child (Catholic grammar and high school). As an adult, I continually read, took adult classes (still do), and I am not alone in this.
If the one who comments/reads is Roman Catholic – their comments should be taken with that consideration. They understand only what they learned – from the “church” as a child.
Dr–
I don’t know who u are- but u speak truths and obviously care for all souls… I myself am in the understanding that we are not to leave – not one soul behind…. Whether it is good or if it is lost right now- I’m trying to say evil but do not want to— Instead I’m sticking with lost- because I truely believe it will only take time– and in some cases with individual guidance with multiple lovers of the soul and well- much more time for the totality of whatever type of soul to make it back to our source, our home, our God, our Creator—as none should strive to be good just for the reward of heaven but to actually realize drop the receiving of anything— good is heaven -love is heaven -Love is everything– it is the strive to move- and with constant love and obviously now constant motion– that is what class?— energy….right ….right…..
What is energy- well that is God of course— and somehow we all, not just the current living, but all who has done so through out all time fits in that little energy ball- to which – it is only little to some human eyes but it is the infinite to some others eyes or whatever they call them….I’m sorry to interrupt your group and I hope none has been hurt in anyways from it— but I leave u with this—as a very happy human who has realized “things” / nobody to some and well I hope some day in this time at least I hope to be something good to those in the future or wherever we are to meet—-I will not rest until everyone is home— I will not leave one behind–no one doesn’t make it–I don’t care the time for it is nothing to me somenonday….I love u all no matter who u think you are in this moment –I appreciate the ones who try – and are ultimately good because they know they like it–and most of them know- living by example is contagious, especially in love– for the rest– u are missing out, if your waiting for the boss to say your evil doing is over so the good know what good is—- well—- I just inherited the cosmic whistle key and my name is David—your job is done– now let’s see how good u are at good? Job # 2 – whistle blown— thank you – I know u didn’t like doing those things….Thank you…. The rest I will find wherever u hide-1 by 1 and make sure u see the presapus of feeling maybe he was lost , maybe he was lying , maybe he gave up and see what u almost destroyed with no direction at all…..I don’t pretend to be anyone special, and actually wish for no one to find me—obviously someone special wouldn’t want anyone to hurt not for a milasecond-but as I would not like to see the omg moment of what if he gave up on me- for you soul slammers out there- u need to feel the opposite somehow—I will help you with that- to understand both sides– if u ask me– I believe your getting off too easy/// I feel these souls should be mandated -to work it off in the next convergence , the next life , the next age– but fortunately for u–I don’t believe that’s my decision—oh wait? Who did I just clock out and clock back in?anyways-I’m no longer your ordinary by ignorance– I found this job working hard for a job of love-because that is what eventually I always want to do with my lives- just because I love u– every single last ONE of U—how lucky for you– someone is willing to give up part of their eternity for u—get used to the company.
Brothers and sisters,u will be in tears if u understand the real meaning.i’m not a christian nor sufi muslim but i ‘m blessed to understand the verses and i try to dilute my temptations.u dont have to be a muslim or christian or hindu ect,to be a man of god.u have have to condemn or convert.just be who u r and try to acheive what u came for.love u all.
What the lord said are nothing but truth.each and every words he mentioned are meant for the soul in us.he divided the body /world/mind(all carries same meaning) from the imperisgable soul/father in heaven/son of god.he advised people not to indulge too much into bodily temptation rather seek what is in you(god).
Its similar to sufi islam.afterall the father is same.the father has no names.u can call it allah ,god or kadavul(inside body).all carries the same meaning.
Gospel of tomas carries beautiful messages from the lord that everyone should read and try to understand.forget about the religious names u carry for a while when u read these verses or any other messages from god/messengers/father in heaven(all same)
Father of heaven is in you .seek before your body perish or u will lose the opportunity.
Pls do not condem any beliefs.u will never reach the place u ought to reach.
Its difficult to understand every word as they meant not what u know but what in you.atleast dont condemn.
It’s plain to see that this so called book of Thomas is a pseudepigrapha written by a counterfeit Christian or false representative. I truly believe that the chosen Apostles ie: Thomas and Phillip would not endeavour to write any form of doctrine without the divine intervention of Jesus Christ. The versified passages has no real substance which is contradictory to the original text and divine qualities of the Lord our Saviour. I refuse to believe that Jesus said: “When you undress without being ashamed and take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample on them, then you will see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid.” (Thom 37:1-3). Whosoever wrote this garbage back in Egypt 1945 must be laughing all the way to the bank for doing Satan’s dirty work. You’ll regret it if you’ve convinced yourself that this book is legit or otherwise you’ve got something too hide by doing something corrupt? False Christs, false prophets, they’re everywhere and Jesus Christ saw them coming from a mile away ie: 2000 years ago. If you preach another gospel of Jesus Christ let him be accursed (Gal 1:6-9)
Hi,
Gospel of our supernatural Father of our souls is known to the people of holy spirit or common sense. I have written a Book; FIRST GNOSTIC PRINCIPLES OF ONE GOD ONE FAITH and here are the details:-
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First know the meaning of the word YeShua and then Christ would be known to you.
Second coming of Jesus was Nanak of the Punjab born in 1469.
Much more in my Book. Over 4700 Youtube Videos; channel nijjhar1 that explain all the Gnostic Gospel. I accept challenges.
If you seek not the whole truth you will find nothing! If you seek the whole truth you will find the kindom of God! If you rebuke or deny my words, you deny my father!
YOU FIGURE IT OUT! IF YOU DOUBT THE WORD that is ypur choice! HERE’S ONE from me! Ye who are dumb asses shall beg for forgiveness when it’s to late! And ye will kiss your asses goodbye. These are the living words of Christ. Remember the Cannon was edited at the council of Nycia by men! Just because these are recent dicoveries does not make them any less valid!
Dr. J K Sexton
Paul, i think i have a crush on you
To the preacher who replies to my email.know this man is born inside a ball blind.he been walking through this world for thousands of years blind.what he sees with his eyes is half the information. his mind does not understand their is another half of the information. you have to view the two halves as one.when you live in a dimensional world .you have to view it demensional. their is always something behind or side what you are looking at.what is hidden from you is right in front of you.do you think Jesus just made that up.be a wise person.no preacher in the modern will ever figure out some of jesuses most complicated parables.you will need my help
congratulations to the one who’s with the one who knows at the end.this saying is very interesting. Nobody knows who.hello my name is charlie.my email is [email protected].I am seeking 1preacher on the Gulfcoast of Mississippi.want to use the knowledge I have with the knowledge u have and extract the information from our world.we now have the technology to do this.and put it on paper.its time to save souls.is their 1 preacher out their that wants to save souls.if you had a chance to show the people of the word the knowledge that is hidden from them ..would you invoke the opportunity.the window is closing
WIn 2 become one.the top becomes the bottom–the bottommes the top.you live inside a ball..their is no top no bottom.all trees have knowledge the problem is your mind doesn’t know how to look at them.the information will present itself when you put the 2 together.the gaps in the trees where you see daylite goes with the tree itself.what you have to do is put the 2 together as 1.this is where your mind has a problem.you have to fight your own mind to keep the 2 as1.its called keep seeking.the power to see is not a power but a ability.what you will see is a profile of a person looking down word on a angle Or upwards on a angle.when the inner becomes the outer..means part of the information overlaps the other part.all the information is stuck together.this is why you can’t find what you suppose to see.your mind does not know how to separate the information. When you view your clouds you put the blue the white and the black together. Look for the person on a angle. In time you will find a person in everything you see.everything in your world changes eats itself or something grows on it.example the black that manifest In all your cement is half the information .the actual cement Is the other half of the information.view the 2 as 1.on a daily bases you have a hundred trillion faces looking at you and you can’t see one.your brain does not understand your world.god wrote to you and told you you are born blind.Jesus told you to seek and you will find.but guess what you don’t have to see to believe. Jesus told u this.but I will tell you this if you ever figure out how to see…you can’t give it back.you will have to live the rest of your life with the knowledge. The question is can man handle it.
Know what is in front of you and what is hidden from you.when you find you will be disturbed then you will marvel.think what is in front of you.
Their are very few people who can see in our world.the ones who can see can give you the answers to the sayings.but you see in today’s world everyone knows everything so they keep the answers to the sayings to themselves. Have you all ever asked some one for the answers.the reason you can’t see is because you don’t know what you are supposed to see and you don’t know where to look.ask me .
Well put. Thanks
Some more original source documents:
http://biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/the-10-strangest-foods-in-the-bible/
You just have to love all these people who get caught up with Gnostic ideas. The first commentator in this list however, a Dr. Howard, probably has got it right…we really don’t need to consider this sort of material as representing anything serious. Still, it does show what sort of foolishness modern, educated people are capable of believing. Otherwise folks, go study your history. Read the original source documents. Use your common sense and logic.
Finally we have these traditions of the journey through the heavenly halls immortalized in the writings of the Sufi mystical poet Farid ud-din Attar in the “Parliament of the Birds” from the 12th century, in which various species of fowl embark on a pilgrimage to seek the Simorgh, a mythical bird whose antecedence goes back to the Anzu-bird of the Sumerian “Lugalbanda” epic cycles concerning the king of Uruk (Erech, Genesis 10:10) and his encounter in the east with the supernatural:
“Eventually the hoopoe tells the birds that in the quest they have to traverse seven valleys. First of all is the Valley of the Quest, where all kinds of perils threaten, and where the pilgrim must renounce his desires. Then comes the Valley of Love, the limitless area in which the Seeker is completely consumed by a thirst for the Beloved. Love is followed by the Valley of Intuitive Knowledge, in which the heart receives directly the illumination of Truth and an experience of God. In the Valley of Detachment the traveler becomes liberated from desires and dependence …The fifth valley is the Valley of Unification. Now the Seeker understands that what seemed to him to be different things and ideas are, in actuality, only one. In the Valley of Astonishment, the traveler finds bewilderment and also love. He no longer understands knowledge in the same way as formerly. Something, which is called love, replaces it. The seventh and last valley is that of Death. This is where the Seeker understands the mystery, the paradox, of how an individual ‘drop can be merged with an ocean, and still remain meaningful. He has found his ‘place.'” (“The Sufis” by Idries Shah, p.121,123).
Correction: July 3, 2005, the day of the “Live 8” concert.
Or rather it was the interception of a comet by the spacecraft “Deep Impact” on July 3, 2004. It’s intriguing how the descriptions of the heavens found in “The Riders of the Chariot and Those Who Enter the Heavenly Halls” seem to match the layout of the solar system. The 6th heaven which is known as “Makhon,” contains storehouses of snow and hail and is like the Main Asteroid Belt located between the planets Mars and Jupiter. The 7th heaven which is known as “Arabot,” contains storehouses of snow and is like the Kuiper Belt of asteroids that stretch from the planet Neptune to beyond the planet Pluto.
And so it is like that animated sequence from Pink Floyd’s “Pulse” DVD that accompanies the song “Time” with the universe structured in a system of clocks and like this phenomenon that just appeared on our radar at the edge of the solar system, there was a fly-by of a comet that coincided with the July 2005 “Live 8” benefit concert in London that featured a constellation of stars who were the earlier created “morning stars” who sang together when the the “cornerstone” of the earth was set (Job 38:7), that is the comets which are the basic building blocks of interstellar life.
That was when Pink Floyd was reunited and so it is interesting how we find in ancient Egyptian mythology (The “Dark Side of the Moon” album came with a greenish poster of the Giza Pyramids) that we have from the pyramid of the 6th Dynasty Pharaoh Pepi I a reference to the two gods who were usually at odds with one another but in this older account were actually cooperating to enable the god of the afterlife to ascend from the netherworld to heaven on a ladder, like Jacob’s Ladder (Genesis 28:12, John 1:51). “Stand thou upright, O divine Ladder! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Set! Stand thou upright, O Ladder of Horus, whereby Osiris came forth into heaven” (“The Gods of the Egyptians” by A.E. Wallis Budge, vol. 2, p.242).
Correction: Isaiah 40:3; “Level in the wilderness (arabah) a highway (mesalah, not mesabah, which is a standing stone)…”
Perhaps the “Arabot” title’s evolution can be compared to the English word “dune” where you can find wiki entrees online about a dune in a marine ecology or the ambiguous book and film franchise “Dune” on Wikipedia (and Uncyclopedia).
Had it not been for an alert monk who hid the cache of scrolls at Nag Hammadi, the only reference we would have had for the Gospel of Thomas is the mere mention of this book by the church historian Eusebius, along with other books that were edited out of existence.
Before the word “Arabot” became a technical term denoting the 7th heaven of the Jewish mystics, it originally meant “steppe lands” in Psalm 68:5; “Sing to God, chant hymns to His name, extol Him who rides the Arabot.” There seems to be a correlation between the outermost limits of the known civilized world, the vast deserts referred to as “arabot,” and the enormous distance between the outer reaches of our solar system and the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy, the abode of the fixed stars which is mentioned in Ezekiel 1:22 as “the likeness of an expanse like the sparkle of an awe-inspiring crystal, ” which is also happens to be the gnostic “Ogdoad,” or the 8th heaven.
A 2nd century interpretation comes from the Talmud (Chagiga 12b) where the word for “extol” in Psalm 68:5 is “selah,” and which has the meaning “to lift up” as in singing when one lifts their voice, where it is also interpreted to mean highway which is the Hebrew word “mesalah” that is found in Isaiah 40:3; “Level in the wilderness (arabah) a highway (mesabah) for our God.” This was the verse that was applied to the ministry of John the Baptist (Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4, John 1:23) who was likely himself influenced by the Dead Sea sect which possessed writings of the heavenly throne vision.
So instead of “extol Him who rides the Arabot” we have, “Cast up a highway for Him that rides upon the Aravot, His name of Yah.” The divine name “Yah” is an abreviation of “Yahweh” and denotes God’s transcendence with the first 2 letters of YHVH, (YH) symbolizing the realm of the heavenly throne. The rabbis inferred that the “Arabot” of Psalm 68:5 (usually translated as “clouds”) was connected by the word for riding, “rakab,” to another verse from Deuteronomy 33:26; “who rides (rakab) upon the heaven for your help,” and thus did “Arabot” become a singular word denoting the realm of the 7th heaven.
“We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon, and we got to get ourselves back to the garden” (“Woodstock,” written by Joni Mitchell and performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young).
It was during the 1st half of the 2nd century that the mystical movement flourished within Judaism and Christianity centered on the heavenly ascent to God’s throne and the Garden of Eden was invoked as a metaphor that was mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud (Chagiga 14b) in the story of the 4 Rabbis who entered Paradise and these practices were described along with “caution” tape that warned of the dangers to the body as well as the soul, resulting in death or insanity or what some would regard as adopting a heretical belief.
In the 2nd century the Christian book “The Ascension of Isaiah” was composed, based on the Jewish book “The Martyrdom of Isaiah” that described Isaiah’s persecution under King Manassah to which the Christians added an account of the spiritual ascent to the 7 heavens by someone perhaps fortunate enough to have succeeded like the Rabbi in “The Four Who Entered Paradise” who was able to give an account of what was experienced while he was “caught away into paradise and heard unutterable words which it is not lawful for a man to speak” (2 Corinthians 12:4), and elsewhere concerning God’s primordial wisdom that “eye has not seen and ear has not heard” (1 Corinthians 2:7-9), based upon wisdom saying # 17 in the Gospel of Thomas:
“I will give you what no eye has seen, and what no ear has heard, and what no hand has touched, and has not occurred to the human mind.”
http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/ted_hildebrandt/ntesources/ntarticles/gtj-nt/young-2corascension-gtj.htm
“The Old Man said
‘Friends, Comrades, not for this alone did I begin the word.
An old man like me doesn’t rattle with just a single word.
Human beings are so confused in their minds!
They do not see the way of truth in the Torah.
Torah calls out to them every day, in love,
but they do not want to turn their heads.
Even though I have said that Torah removes a word from her sheath,
is seen for a moment, then quickly hides away –
that is certainly true –
but when she reveals herself from her sheath
and hides herself right away,
she does so for those who know her intimately.'”
From “The Old Man and the Beautiful Maiden,” (“Zohar; The Book of Enlightenment” by Daniel Matt, p.123).
Unfortunately we do not have an Gnostics or their agents available to defend themselves and their purposes. Is their’s the true word? It is so easy to jump upon the band wagon and criticize from early training or conditioning.
“Blessed is the lion that a person will eat and the lion will become human. And anathema is the person whom a lion will eat and the lion become human” (saying # 7).
Good question, Eliezer, and what tremendous import this saying has in light of archaeology since we have an Egyptian pre-dynastic ceremonial knife (like something out of a grainy deleted scene from the film “Dune”) known as the Gebel el Arak Knife with a flint blade and an elaborately carved ivory handle depicting the earliest known representation of the Mesopotamian “mighty hunter” motif (like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord, Genesis 10:9) depicting a man in mortal combat with 2 lions who flank him on either side:
“The scenes carved on its handle are done in the Eastern style of the day. On one face the depiction of the ‘master of animals’ is thoroughly Mesopotamian in costume and design; however, it is the opposite side of the handle that attracts the most attention. In the top two registers men are shown engaged in hand-to-hand combat, employing hands knives, maces, and simple clubs, while below is shown the world’s oldest sea battle” (“Egypt Before the Pharaohs” by Michael A. Hoffman, p.340).
“The boats carrying fighting men and people are seen struggling in the water in a manner that recalls a scene drawn 2,000 years later at the temple-palace of Medinet Habu to commemorate a victory of Ramses III over the ‘people of the seas'” (p.342).
The scenes depicted at Medinet Habu is the backdrop for the Israelite’s avoidance of the Way of the Philistnes and instead went roundabout by the way of the Wilderness of the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 13:17-18) and the circuitous route symbolizes the “Circle of the Earth” in the Egyptian account describing the extent of the Sea Peoples’s migrations as reaching the region of the Black Sea, and described also in Homer’s “Odyssey,” chapter 11, as “the deep-flowing River of Ocean.”
These are ancient cosmological beliefs of the earth being surrounded by an ocean that dates back to earliest times and it is referred to as the “ends of the earth” (Zechariah 9:10) where the word for ends is “aphes” which is the mythical “apsu” upon which the earth rested, the abode of the god Ea.
As Egyptian influence declined in the land of Canaan, the kings of Judah adopted the symbols of Egyptian sovereignty patterned after the lion statues (sphinx) and the tribe of Judah is associated with the lion (Genesis 49:9). This would be an example of a man eating a lion and the lion becoming a man and with the growing influence of the Neo-Assyrian Empire is the lion who eats the man and the lion becomes a man, with the Assyrians use of iconography having common affinities with those of the Judahites such as the tree of life motif from Genesis 2:9 which was originally was the date-palm, a symbol of fertility because it had to be artificially pollenized by hand. The date-palm was the sacred tree of the god Ea at Eridu, whose sacred number was 40, as is attested in the frequent use of this number in the wilderness narratives and it was in the late 8th century B.C.E. that the palmette capitals flank the entrances to royal palaces in Judah, influenced by Assyria, and similarly it was under Persian rule that we have the term “pardes” or paradise that originally meant an enclosed park:
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/royal-garden-from-israelite-palace-reveals-its-secrets/
What’s that business with lions?
The vetting process of the Christians that put together the Word of God, disproved enough of Thomas to discard it. Be very careful what one picks and chooses. Don’t study this unless for research, for you are fooling with Satan, the ultimate deceiver. <
That is, an 8th century B.C.E. provenance for some of the biblical wilderness narratives:
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/exodus/video-the-wilderness-itineraries-who-how-and-when-did-biblical-authors-know-about-the-southern-deserts/
After going to the web page “Ask the Rabbi,” another definition for the Aramaic and Hebrew word “arabah” is the willow tree (Leviticus 23:40; “poplars of the torrent valley”) which was used in the Festival of Succot”, or Tabernacles (John 7:2) along with fragrant branches numbering 7 booths for 7 days.
I’m inclined to believe that the scenario of the Israelite’s departure from Elath takes place within the period in the late 8th cenury B.C.E. with acquisition of this port by the Edomites with the help of the Arameans at Damascus (2 Kings 16:6) when the Judahite king Ahaz sent tribute to Tiglath-pileser his new ally upon which time the bronze bulls were scrapped and the bronze sea was lowered a level to the ground in front of the temple, to which the seer responded in the name of the Lord, “these people have scorned the waters of Shiloah that flow along gently…” (Isaiah 8:6). King Ahaz also used the priest Uriah (2 Kings 16:15) to introduce changes in the established cultic tradition in conformity with Judah’s status as a vassal of Assyria, and substituted an altar that resembled a ziggarat temple-tower, to which came the response that it is the Lord who is holy (kodesh) and who must become a sanctuary (mikadesh) (Isaiah 8:13).
For more on the discussion regarding an 8th century B.C.E. providence for some of the biblical wilderness narratives:
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/exodus/video-the-wilderness-itineraries-who-how-and-when-did-biblical-author-know-about-the-southern-deserts/
Correction: the term “Arabot” is singular and not plural and it designates the 7th heaven.
I incorrectly said Timnah the Philistine city instead of Timna the copper mine near Ezion-geber on the Gulf of Eliat where the ancient Israelites left their camp to travel to Kadesh (Numbers 33:36) in the Wilderness of Zin where Miriam the prophetess died (Numbers 20:1). Elsewhere it gets more specific by mentioning, “the way of Arabah, from Elath and from Ezion-geber” (Deuteronomy 2:8). Until the discovery of the Egyptian temple of Hathor at Timna we were unable to identify Miriam and her tambourine with the goddess Hathor and her sistrum, or the connection between the place name Kadesh and the Canaanite goddess Qadesh, whom the Egyptians incorporated into their pantheon under Ramsess II. Hathor was portrayed as a cow covered with little crosses representing stars as she was referred to as the Heavenly Cow. So it’s interesting how side by side with the Gnostics was the Jewish mystical speculation concerning the ascent to God’s throne in the book of Ezekiel:
“Scholem observes that the period in which these Gnostic speculations and ascents took place extended over almost a thousand years, from the first century B.C.E., to the tenth century C.E.” (“The Shocken Book of Jewish Mystical Testimonies” by Louis Jacobs, p.35).
Among the finds in a cache of document discovered in the Cairo Genizah was a mystical treatise entitled “The Riders of the Chariot and Those Who Entered the Heavenly Halls,” that was composed in the 4th or 5th century and which describes the mystical ascent through the 7 heavens and the 6th heaven is called “Arabot” which is plural for “arabah,” meaning “desert-plain, steppe,” and it is the geographical term applied to the depression between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Eliat; “the way of Arabah” (Deuteronomy 2:8). According to this treatise the name of the mystical chariot in heaven Arabot is named “Cloud” that is derived from the verse; “The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rides upon a swift cloud…” (Isaiah 19:1), and it likely refers to the non-native storm god arriving amid the local gods of Egypt, or (in my personal opinion) the takeover of the Timna sanctuary by Arabs who replace the pillars resembling the cow-eared goddess with a row of pillars arrayed like the tent poles at the entrance of the Israelites tent of meeting, since it is thought that Yahweh originated as an Arabian storm god. So the Midianite and Israelite copper serpents are significant in that the city of the scribal god Thoth was Hermopolis, and in the nearby necropolis of Deir el-Bersha numerous coffin texts were found that indicate that the collection of books at Hermopolis gave rise to a literary genre of space travel in the afterlife exemplified by “The Book of the Two Ways,” in which the deceased passed through 7 zones not unlike way stations for travelers:
“At one time these forts, or strongholds, or ‘gates,’ were thought to be seven in number … The seven forts that formed a chain across Dead-land were called ‘Arits,’ a word which is often translated ‘Mansions,’ or ‘Halls’ … This arrangement is identical with that which has been common in all parts of Africa from time immemorial in respect of the forts that are built at the entrances to towns and villages” (“The Book of the Dead” by A.E. Wallis Budge, Gramercy Books, p.269).
We live in a world, in general, that spurns and disparages any religious viewpoint that vilifies matter. The view of the ancient gnostics, the ancient Pythagoreans and, to a large extent, Plato and his school, and later Plotinus, are all centrally concerned with the degradation of spirit by degrees lower and lower–to pure death, that is, matter–rather than the living spirit.
Most liberals in the US (on the two coasts at least) profess that if they had any religion it would surely be Buddhism. Interesting, since like the ancients, in the Buddhist mahajana view matter considered in itself is mere delusion. Or rather it is emptiness just as emptiness is it.
Must we I wonder dismiss a perennial spiritualist philosophy taking different forms in antiquity and in the present that constitute that closest literate example that we have to a perennial philosophy, dismissing it with contempt and without even the need to hold conversation on the subject? We all of us make assumptions without knowing they are only assumptions, can it be that we can examine these assumptions without attempting to violently impose them without discussion? I ask this as a plea, not a demand.
From what I understand the gnostic gospels are not considered credible because for one, their authorship is in question…Just about every book carries the name of a New Testament character: The Gospel of Phillip, The Gospel of Mary, The Gospel of Peter, The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Judas, etc. However, they are dated about 110-300 years after Christ and no credible scholar believes any of them could have been written by their namesake.
Also, the Gnostic gospels are not historical accounts of Jesus’ life as seen in the gospels in the New Testament, but instead are mostly esoteric statements, leaving out historical details such as names, places, events. Thus, they lack reliability because of their late dating, questionable authorship, lack of historical data, and contradictions to other scriptural writings held to a higher standard. When in doubt, throw it out.
See link below
http://y-jesus.com/gnostic_gospels.php?gclid=CJbhg8Tb6poCFRIcawodwmIJBg
Paul was a gnostic and so was the author of the Gospel of John who makes reference to the bronze serpent (John 3:14), the one that Moses made as an anecdote to the bites of creatures referred as “seraphim” or “burning ones,” that are portrayed in Milton’s “Paradise Lost” as a category of infernal spirits who inhabit Hell an have a serpentine form. We now know that the Midianites had a bronze serpent at the site of the sanctuary at Timnah, so this is an Israelite version of the Egyptian cobra god Thoth, god of writing.
It is refreshing to hear Pope Francis admit that he hasn’t watched television in a quarter century, which is what the Gospel of Thomas means in the 27th saying:
“If you do not abstain from the world, you will not find the kingdom.”
But then we watched “A.D.; The Bible Continues,” and there was the apostle Thomas wanting to verify that it was Jesus who had risen, and thus the emphasis in this gospel on an individual’s self-discovery by not just being content with what people tell you. Then in the last segment Thomas asked, “No apocalypse?” after the prophecy of Daniel concerning the abomination that causes desolation did not happen. Which is why I conclude that Thomas was the inspiration behind these wisdom sayings since it is in “The Acts of Thomas,” which begins with the apostles being assigned to regions of the world to spread the gospel which was apportioned by lot (like the 12 bronze oxen arrayed outward toward the ends of the earth while supporting a bronze representation of the primordial sea, the abode of the Sumerian god Ea, lord of wisdom, in 1 Kings 7:23-25), and who journeys east to India, where it is thought by some people to be the origin of “the black-headed people” mentioned in ancient texts who were the early inhabitants of the land of Sumer.
Many actual Christians, refuse the catolic councils, because was a certification of the “Apostasy”, but do not refuse the canon approved by one catholic council… No one revise all another writings… And run afraid of the Gnostics… when the reality is that at the time of Saulos, he was proto gnostic… and all the gospels was written with this directives.
I think that many of the teachings of the new testament are Gnostic, if you see the beginning, Yeshua was a Hebrew. How we can now call the Gospel of Tomas, as gnostic. No one of the Saulo writings (the base of the christianism) are a pure Hebrew teach… I believe that the Gospel of Tomas give us information about Yeshua and his greek and judaic roots.
This is somebody ‘s interpretation who supports Christianity and likes to discredit Judaism. As a whole, the sayings are in the New Testament! A person that speaks Hebrew, can see, that many of the sayings were manipulated to make Jesus seem like he was anti -Semitic! The New Testament is full of lies! You Christians don’t even keep the Ten Commendments!
Erika
Hi Erika.
I am a lover of Jews and of Israel. Did you refer to Sabbath keeping when you said that Christains do not keep the Ten Commandments? I would love to know to apply your comment to my life and to change. Please take a moment to reply. I truly value your reply.
Sincerely.
Erika Walker
You can start by believing in the ONE invisible, and indivisble God of Israel, just as Jesus taught in MK 12:28ff. Everything else as a christian is irrelevent if you do not believe in the MOST IMPORTANT COMMANDMENT IN THE WORLD.
One of the many Gnostic gospels that are written to confuse people.
Apocryphal Gospels and Apostasy From Christianity
In December 1945, near Nag Hammadi, in Upper Egypt, peasants chanced upon 13 papyrus manuscripts containing 52 texts. These fourth-century documents have been attributed to a religious and philosophical movement called Gnosticism. Mixing elements of mysticism, paganism, Greek philosophy, Judaism, and Christianity, the movement was a contaminating influence on some professed Christians.—1 Timothy 6:20, 21.
The “Gospel of Thomas,” the “Gospel of Philip,” and the “Gospel of Truth,” found in the “Nag Hammadi Library,” present various mystic Gnostic ideas as if coming from Jesus. The recently discovered “Gospel of Judas” is also counted among the Gnostic gospels. It portrays Judas in a positive light as the only apostle who really understood who Jesus was. One expert on this gospel notes that it describes Jesus as “a teacher and revealer of wisdom and knowledge, not a savior who dies for the sins of the world.” The inspired Gospels teach that Jesus did die as a sacrifice for sins of the world. (Matthew 20:28; 26:28; 1 John 2:1, 2) Clearly, the Gnostic gospels are intended to undermine, rather than strengthen, faith in the Bible.—Acts 20:30.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200270408
I can easily see we do NOT need the so called Gospel? of Thomas! It does show that the writer/s were familiar with some of the true sayings of Jesus as found in our canonical scriptures as promised by Jesus who said, ‘heaven and earth will pass away [Revelation 20;ll Peter3:9-13 ] but my words shall never pass away.’ Many of these writings are foolish make no real sense as if someone thought they were ‘inspired.’ This lacks real authenticity to say the least.to clearly says not to” add” to the Word and someone thought that didn’t apply to them.Fasle teachers and prophets were predicted by the NT writers. This book is just another “…cunningly devised fable” as predicted by Peter.